Just between you and me
by tinnie75
Summary: Betty and Jughead get roped into Veronica's plans to fit a whole summer worth of fun into two weeks. Little does anyone know they have plenty of fun experiences of their own.
1. Chapter 1

"Honey, I'm home!" Veronica announces the moment she walks through the door, flipping her hair over her shoulder dramatically.

"Ronnie, you're back!" Betty exclaims, rushing toward her best friend and roommate and then they're hugging and squealing like teenage girls.

To be fair, they're barely past their teenage years, and they haven't seen each other in three months. But besides Smithers, who is hauling all five of Veronica's suitcases inside, there is nobody there to judge them, so they don't see a need to restrain themselves.

"You look amazing!" Betty exclaims as she takes a step back to get a better look at her friend.

Somehow, even after a twelve hour flight, Veronica's hair is shiny and perfectly styled, and her clothes have no wrinkles, which makes Betty wonder whether she changed her outfit since landing back in New York, or whether expensive clothing just doesn't wrinkle.

"Oh, please." Veronica waves her hand. "The air on the plane made my skin so dry it feels like sandpaper. You, on the other hand, are glowing like a summer goddess. What's your secret?"

"Just the New York sun and the stress of an internship. It does wonders for your skin," Betty replies with a smile and an unusual amount of sarcasm in her voice. She has never been great at taking compliments, but Veronica has always been excellent at giving them.

"I hoped it would be something simple, like drinking a lot of water and great sex, but oh well." Veronica shrugs and waves Smithers a silent goodbye as he finished bringing her luggage in.

"You must be hungry. First class airplane food is still just airplane food, right?" Betty asks with a laugh, changing the subject as she makes her way toward the kitchen area. "What would you like? I think we have all the ingredients for some proper American breakfast to welcome you home. I can make pancakes with maple syrup, or some bacon, or..." She starts listing off things Veronica may have missed during her trip.

"Actually–" Veronica interrupts her, "–I got these cupcakes from this cute little _boulangerie_ in Paris, and they won't stay fresh for much longer. So, while I usually wouldn't eat something like this for breakfast, I think we can make an exception. What do you think?"

"Cupcakes for breakfast? My mother would have a heart attack if she heard that," Betty says, mustering up a convincing serious face before breaking out into a wide grin. "So of course I'll have a cupcake."

"Great!" Veronica chirps. "I'll just go get Jughead to join us."

"Jughead?" Betty raises her eyebrows in surprise.

Veronica and Jughead's relationship is quite a strange one, to say the least. It's not that they don't like each other, but from an outside perspective it sure did seem that way. During the two years they've known each other, Betty has seen enough proof to know that, deep down, they do. But, at first glance, one would assume they're frenemies at best.

"It's only nine. I don't think he gets out of bed before noon unless he has to. Do you really wanna deal with his grumpy face first thing after coming home?"

"I told him I would bring him some food, and Lodges always keep their promises," she says, holding up the box of cupcakes. "I don't care that he's still sleeping at nine in the morning, we're having breakfast together so I can tell you guys all about Paris while you tell me what I missed here in New York."

Betty knows that for Veronica to tell them all about Paris, their breakfast would have to last at least a month, but she doesn't tell her that. Instead, she offers to make coffee while Veronica takes the task of knocking on the apartment across from theirs and dragging Jughead over to their place.

It only takes about five minutes of muffled grumbling, yelling and probably some threats before they both join Betty at the dining room table, Veronica with a triumphant smile, and Jughead, as expected, with a frown and his trusted beanie slightly lopsided, suggesting he put it on rather hastily.

"Morning, Jug," Betty greats him with a tiny smile and hands him a cup of coffee that he seems desperately in need of.

"Thanks," he mumbles, the corners of his lips twitching ever so slightly as he slides into a chair opposite her.

"Now that we're all here, sans Archiekins, but I'll catch him up on everything later, we can start," Veronica announces. Betty and Jughead share a confused look, wondering whether Veronica has a whole PowerPoint presentation prepared about her summer in Paris.

As it turns out, she doesn't, but it still doesn't stop her from talking non-stop for the next half hour. While Betty listens to her intently, Jughead falls into a microsleep sometime between the story of Veronica organizing her first mini fashion show and her compiling an outfit for the cover of L'Officiel because he has no idea who Adelise is or what the word couture means. But with frequent nods, he at least keeps up the pretense of listening. It's not like Veronica is even really looking at him as she's walking around the room, flailing her arms in exaggerated gestures.

"But enough about me," she says finally, sitting back on her chair. "What crazy things were you kids up to?"

"Nothing," they both say at the same time, and Jughead motions for Betty to continue.

"Just... the internship. Hard work. You know how that is," Betty says with a shrug. Unlike Veronica, she doesn't have stories about meeting celebrities or even about being given much freedom at her job.

"Oh, B. All work and no play? You're young and so beautiful. You should loosen up your ponytail and live a little." Betty gives her a pointed look and Veronica quickly corrects herself. "I mean metaphorically. Do something crazy. Take some risks. Don't you think, Jug?" Veronica turns to him and his eyes widen in surprise. She doesn't tend to ask for his opinion much, but he assumes it's more of a rhetorical question, anyway.

"I think Betty should do whatever makes her happy." Diplomatic, but truthful. Jughead never quite understood Veronica's obsession of trying to make their lives exciting. He likes his routine. He enjoys knowing what's going to happen next, and while he's learned that not all unexpected things are bad, he'd rather not push his luck.

Betty throws him a thankful glance and he smiles in response before taking a sip of his coffee, hoping it will keep Veronica from firing more questions at him.

However, there is no stopping Veronica Lodge. "So what about you, Jughead? Are you as dedicated to work as our Betty here? Or are you taking advantage of that James Dean look of yours while it lasts?"

"First of all, ouch." He puts a hand on his chest, acting deeply hurt about her comment. "Second, you know me. I'm all about the parties and using my looks to pick up girls or whatever it is you're expecting me to be doing." His voice is dripping with sarcasm as Veronica rolls her eyes at him and Betty smiles. While Veronica and Archie are the extroverts of their friend group, constantly inviting them to huge parties, Betty can always count on Jughead to be her ally when trying to persuade them to have a movie night in their apartment.

"You guys are so lucky I'm back. We'll make the most of our time before the semester starts," Veronica says excitedly, the wheels in her head already spinning.

It's not that she doesn't love her friends for who they are, she does, and that's exactly why she always tries to make their lives as exciting as possible. Even if they aren't often keen on that.

Jughead lets out an audible groan at the idea, sharing his opinion, but politely so. Betty chuckles, and they share a knowing glance that says they need to stop her. But Veronica is already back on her feet, ignoring their protests as she starts pacing circles around the dining room table, throwing her arms around once more.

"I'm sure we can fit a summer worth of fun into two weeks. We just need a set of goals," she says, tapping her perfectly manicured finger against her chin. "For example, we need to find Betty a guy."

"What?" Betty's eyebrows shoot up and Jughead quickly shoves a piece of cupcake into his mouth to keep himself from voicing his opinion.

While Veronica considers herself to be quite the matchmaker, her success rate within their small group of friends is dangerously close to zero. If it was up to him, it would actually be negative after her last attempt to pair him up with a girl from her economics class, a fiery redhead named Cheryl Blossom. She ended up being a pompous socialite who managed to repeatedly insult him and tried to jump him in the span of thirty minutes before he made up an excuse to run away from their date. He's still scared of what may happen if he ever runs into her again.

"Oh, don't worry, B. I know you're picky about who you date. Which is fine, because you deserve the best." She puts a hand on Betty's shoulder and gives it a light squeeze. "But for the purposes of saving your summer, we'll find you someone cute to shake the sheets with."

At Veronica's words Jughead manages to inhale a piece of his cupcake, causing a violent coughing fit.

"Sheesh, Jones, don't be such a prude. Don't you think our Betty deserves someone to slip her the hot beef injection?" She asks and this time it's Betty who almost chokes at Veronica's choice of euphemism.

"Oh, I'm sure she does," he mumbles once he finally catches his breath, but Veronica just waves her hand at him, deciding to ignore him and get back to pursuing Betty.

"I don't think this is a good idea, V," Betty says, hoping Veronica can give up on the idea and move on to something else instead.

"Why not? Have I ever tried to set you up with someone bad?" Veronica asks. The room is silent.

"Okay, I admit that some guys didn't turn out to be a perfect match. But not all of them were bad. What about Adam? He was alright."

Jughead lets out a low grunt at the mention of the big headed guy Betty dated at the beginning of their sophomore year.

"Do you have something to say?" Veronica narrows her eyes at him, as if daring him to oppose her.

"Adam. The pretentious braggart? Is that the height of your match making abilities?" He scoffs, not trying to hide his distaste. "We all hated the guy."

"We didn't..." Veronica tries to protest, but fails to come up with a single moment when she didn't despise the man. "Okay, you're right," she admits reluctantly, rolling her eyes. "We hated Adam. But Betty didn't."

"Actually, I did," Betty says, admitting it out loud for the first time.

"What?" Veronica's perfectly sculpted eyebrows shoot up. "How long were you together? Two months? Three?"

"Ten of the longest weeks of my life," Betty mumbles, focusing on delicately unwrapping another cupcake and avoiding her best friend's prying eyes.

She still feels embarrassed for slumming it with Adam for so long, when it was clear since the very first date that things wouldn't work between them. It only took half an hour for the confidence and intelligence she liked about him so much to turn into the cockiness that she couldn't stand. A part of her feels like she only dated him for his looks, the dark hair and blue eyes, too similar to someone else she was actually attracted to but didn't dare admit. Almost a year later, she still feels like a complete idiot for wasting her time on him.

Sensing Betty's discomfort, Jughead decides to try to change the subject.

"So, when is Archie coming home?" He asks with his eyes pointed at Veronica. He knows exactly when his best friend is coming home from his summer-long trip to LA, but he hopes that the mention of her beloved Archiekins will distract her enough to drop the idea of setting Betty up with someone she has no interest in and making everyone feel awkward in the process of doing so.

"If everything goes according to the plan, he'll be home at around three, just in time to get ready for our dinner reservation at seven," she replies with a dreamy look on her face. "Which reminds me. B, I'll need your assistance getting ready. I've brought so many new clothes but I'm not sure which to wear tonight. There is this purple satin dress that would go great with..."

"I think my job here is done," Jughead announces as he throws the last piece of cupcake into his mouth and stands up from the table, using Veronica's change of topic as his way out. "Thanks for the breakfast," he says, mainly aiming his words at Veronica, although his eyes linger on Betty.

He bids them a quick goodbye and while Veronica continues rambling about her various outfit options. Betty only half listens, her eyes still fixed on the front door as her mind keeps replaying the tiny smile Jughead sent her way before leaving.

* * *

"I can't believe all this time I actually thought you liked Adam. That's the only reason I at least tried to tolerate him," Veronica says, piercing Betty with her gaze in the mirror of her vanity. As Jughead pointed out earlier that day, they all hated Adam and his constant attempts to belittle them in order to feel like the smartest guy in the room. But since Veronica believed that Betty actually saw something in him, she tried really hard to see it too, for her best friend's sake. What a waste of time it was.

"I wanted to like him," Betty answers, as if that explains everything. "He looked like the perfect guy. For maybe half an hour." She adds the last sentence with a roll of her eyes. "And I guess I kept hoping the perfect guy was still there somewhere. If I only waited long enough for him to show up again." She knows how pathetic that makes her sound, but that's exactly how she felt back then. Like she was supposed to be grateful that someone good looking and smart wanted to date her. She knows better now.

"The dark hair and deep blue eyes... I can't blame you for holding onto that hot body for a bit too long." Veronica chuckles. "If only he had more going on for him than his looks. I don't even remember many sounds coming from your bedroom when he was here. Other than him chanting some big words, of course."

"Ugh." Betty shudders at the memory. For someone who prided himself on being smart and finding breakthrough solutions on a daily basis, he was very bad at finding that one particular spot on her body that he needed to, no matter how many times she guided him towards it.

"So tell me," Veronica clasps her hands, deciding to change the topic a little. "What does your ideal man look like?"

"Oh, I don't know." Betty shrugs, wrapping Veronica's hair around a curling iron as they speak. She has never given this question much thought, though she may have gravitated to a certain type of man without even realizing it. "I don't think I really have a type."

Veronica raises her eyebrow, a sign that she doesn't quite believe that, but she doesn't say anything.

"Well, what about his personality? Clearly not a big headed douchebag like Adam. Or a pushover like Trev."

Betty sighs and thinks about the question for a couple of seconds. "I guess... I want someone who's down to earth, who's willing to spend the evening inside eating pizza and watching old movies with me. Someone I can talk to and laugh with, rather than worry about being laughed at. I don't wanna be a guy's accessory. I want to be his friend. And... yeah, I think that's it," she concludes suddenly and feels a slight blush growing on her cheeks. She has never said any of those things out loud. Never thought she had the right to ask for much, but things feel a bit different now.

"You know you basically just described Jughead, right?" Veronica lets out a low laugh. It's not that she finds anything wrong with Jughead, but he's just that. Jughead. Their kind of weird but surprisingly sweet friend and neighbor. "Or some better version of him."

"No I didn't," Betty says quickly, but her face is already red. "He's not... well... I didn't."

"Okay, okay. No need to get defensive." Veronica raises her hands in surrender, hoping she didn't offend her best friend. "I just... never mind."

They grow quiet for a few moments as Betty focuses her attention back on Veronica's hair, while Veronica taps the screen of her phone furiously. She's determined to help her friend and doesn't understand why Betty is so opposed to the idea ofbeing set up with someone. Sure, it hasn't worked properly yet, but it's just a matter of time until it does.

"B, you're the literal best. I'll make it all up to you," Veronica chimes a couple of minutes later as Betty runs her fingers through her friend's newly formed waves before lightly coating them with hairspray. "Actually, I'm already working on it. I've shortlisted a couple of guys you may like. Some real eye candies, seemingly smart enough to be worthy of your time, but not too smart. Just the right amount of nerdy for you. All, of course, open to just some casual fun, but that doesn't mean scared of commitment."

"Ronnie..." Betty trails off, trying to stop her, but Veronica continues, not willing to give up easily.

"Betty, dear, I'd never make you do something you don't want to. I just... I like to be proactive, throw ideas around, push you guys a bit out of your comfort zone. So, of course, I won't force you to go on any dates. But please, _please_, at least think about it," Veronica pleads, her brown eyes growing wide. "I forwarded you the profiles so you can look at them. Maybe one of those guys will catch your eye."

Betty knows there is no way she can talk Veronica out of this idea. Not without telling her why she has no interest in her match making abilities. She lets out a sigh and decides to play along, if only to give her best friend the temporary satisfaction. Betty knows that Veronica only has her best interest at heart_. _"Okay, I'll look at them."

Veronica lets out a high pitched squeal to show her satisfaction, and with that, the conversation is over, at least for the day.

* * *

It's an hour later when Veronica finally puts the finishing touches on her look just as her red-headed boyfriend comes knocking at their apartment door. While they'd all already reunited earlier that day, right after Archie arrived home, his reappearance at the front door is met with equal amount of squealing and excitement from Veronica as it was before.

Betty laughs at the two lovebirds as she ushers them out and wishes them a fun evening, to which Veronica replies with a wink and Betty assumes she won't see her friend until the morning. She just hopes the inevitably loud reunion won't be happening at their apartment.

Just a few seconds after the door closes, there's a knock again, and Betty hurries to open it, wondering what Veronica left behind. But when she opens the door, she's greeted with a different raven-haired friend, whose grumpy expression from earlier in the day is replaced with a small smirk.

"I saw them leave," is all he says before his lips are on Betty's and her legs are wrapped around his waist as he presses her against the front door, trying not to waste another second.

"It was killing me not to touch you the whole day," he murmurs between kisses, running his hands up and down Betty's body, as if trying to find out whether something's changed since the last time he touched her, even though it was less than twenty-four hours ago.

"You can make it up to me now," she replies breathlessly, slipping her fingers into his silky soft hair, eliciting a small but satisfied moan from him as he presses his body against hers.

"Oh, I will." He smirks and tightens his grip on her as he carries her towards her bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure you're okay with keeping this secret for just a little longer?" Betty asks, propping her head up on Jughead's chest while his fingers dance across her bare back. "I know we've talked about it already, but Veronica was a bit intense today and... I don't want you to think that I'm ashamed of... us. That's so not the reason I don't want to tell her yet. But if this thing with her trying to make me hook up with other guys bothers you, we can just tell her and..."

Jughead presses a finger to her lips to stop her rambling with a smile on his face. He's been smiling a lot in the past two months, he realizes. And it's all thanks to the beautiful blonde in his arms.

"Betts, it's okay. We've talked about this. Veronica, as we know, gets overly invested. So for everyone's sanity, it's better if we don't tell her until she's busy with classes again and can't dedicate all her time to planning ridiculous double dates and stuff like that." He rolls his eyes dramatically, causing Betty to giggle and he feels her relax against him once again.

"And as much as I'd like to tell the world that the wonderful Betty Cooper took an interest in me, I understand why you want to keep things to ourselves for a bit longer, and I'm fine with that. I quite like our little bubble." He smiles and lifts his head to lightly brush his lips over Betty's and she sighs into the kiss.

After just one day it seems like it might be harder to keep this a secret than she initially thought. _This_. They haven't even discussed what _this_ means. They've been friends for what feels like ages, even though, in reality, it's only really been two years. Things have, however, changed a lot in the past couple of weeks. They haven't just added sex to their friendship. They're not friends with benefits. It's so much more than that.

But are they dating? They've never specified. There's no need for labels when nobody else knows. But it makes Betty wonder whether that's just another reason why she wants things between her and Jughead to remain secret, maybe she's worried that putting a label on it and telling the world may ruin the amazing thing they've built between them.

"It's just so..." Betty tries to look for the proper word. "New. I don't want anyone's grubby hands tainting what we have."

"It's not new."

Jughead scrunches up his eyebrows. Is it new? His stomach still flips whenever he looks at her, but he also can't remember a time when he wasn't totally enamored with Betty Cooper, so it can't be _that_ new.

"We were just friends," Betty protests, though she knows that the term "just friends" hardly applies when she'd been crushing on him for almost two years prior.

"Who flirted," he adds.

"Oh, were you flirting? I never noticed," she teases, and he gently pokes her in the ribs. She squirms, her laughter filling the space between them.

"You weren't exactly throwing yourself at me either, were you?" He raises his eyebrow at her. "Well, not until you were."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Betty shakes her head, burying her face in his chest to hide her blush.

**2.5 months ago**

"Hold the door!" Betty calls out as she rushes toward the elevator, the last little obstacle before she finally gets to her apartment.

She breathes a sigh of relief when the door opens at the last second and slumps against the nearest wall, trying not to think about how dirty it probably is. The humidity outside is making the strands of hair that escaped her ponytail curl at the ends and the sunflower-patterned dress sticks to her back with sweat. She feels gross, and suspects she smells even worse, if for no other reason than sharing the tiny space on the subway with a bunch of smelly people. But right now, she_ really_ doesn't care about her appearance.

"Thanks," she says.

"No problem." The familiar voice takes her out of her thoughts. So maybe she does care what she looks like. But it's too late now.

"Oh, hey, Jug." She flashes him a wide smile, hoping it's enough to distract from the mascara that is probably running down her cheeks by now. New York is most certainly not supposed to be this hot in the middle of June, so she didn't think it was worth investing into one that would be sweat proof.

"Betty," he says her name instead of greeting and the corners of his lips turn upwards slightly. "How's it going?"

"I'm alright. Busy," she answers with honesty. Thanks to her internship there isn't too much time left in her day. Well, perhaps just enough to feel lonely because both of her best friends left for the summer, chasing their own internships and career opportunities.

"_New York Magazine_, is it?" He doesn't know why he's pretending he isn't sure. Of course he knows it's _New York Magazine_. He helped Betty review her cover letter and hugged her when she got the job. But something inside him is telling him to play it cool. Whatever that means, he doesn't think it's acting like he doesn't care. "Are they already trying to recruit you as their editor-in-chief?"

Betty scoffs and shakes her head. "Hardly. I'll be glad if they let me write something more than their coffee orders by the end of this internship," she says, too exhausted to hide the bitterness in her voice.

He wants to laugh at her remark, but sees a hint of sadness in her eyes and decides to go with a bit of encouragement instead. "They don't know what they're missing out on."

She gives him a small smile, a simple thank you, making his stomach flip.

"Well what about your internship? Are they already dying to publish your book?"

"I wish." He lets out a low laugh. "So far all I get to do is go through manuscripts that have already been labeled as doomed. And I have to work on that in a_ group_," he emphasizes the last word dramatically.

"Yikes." Betty scrunches up her face, and while she feels bad for Jughead, a tiny part of her is relieved that she's not the only one not making a breakthrough in her career.

"Do you need a hand?" he asks suddenly, his hand already reaching for the paper bag with groceries filled over the brim, cursing himself for not noticing Betty struggling to hold onto her shopping earlier.

"Thanks," she says in that soft voice that makes his heart skip a beat. He tries not to let it show and instead peers into the bag now in his arms.

"That's a lot of food," he comments, hoping Betty can't hear the embarrassing growl of his stomach. "Are you hosting a dinner party?"

"No." Betty laughs at the implication. If it was up to her mother, she would probably host fancy dinner parties at least once a month, with expensive wine and meals with French names that nobody can pronounce. But she didn't turn out the way her mother wanted. Instead, she's planning to make a simple dinner and spend the evening alone with only Netflix to keep her company. Or maybe...

"I'm not used to only cooking for myself, and with Veronica being away I end up with three days' worth of leftovers. Would you... Would you like to come over for dinner? To help me with it?" She asks, feeling a bit self-conscious.

It's not like they never spend time alone with each other. But with Veronica and Archie constantly around, they usually end up doing things as a group. Now that both of their best friends have left for the summer, it feels a bit strange to hang out without them.

"We have a working air conditioner," she adds, knowing full well that the air conditioning in Jughead and Archie's apartment has been broken since at least the day they moved in.

"You don't need to try to lure me in with a well maintained apartment, Betts." He grins at her. "I'd be happy to come. Should I bring dessert?"

"Given the fact that you once brought a half-eaten bag of chips as a snack for movie night, I'll say no." She returns his grin as a wave of relief washes over her.

"Okay, okay. I'll keep my half-eaten chocolate bar to myself then." He smirks just as the old elevator dings, announcing they've reached their floor. "What time?" he asks, waiting for Betty to unlock her front door before handing her the bag of groceries back.

"How does six sound?"

"Perfect." He nods in agreement, trying to act like he wouldn't agree to just about any time. "I'll try not to get stuck in traffic," he adds with a dorky grin that makes her giggle and takes the few steps towards the apartment opposite hers and pulls out his keys, not breaking the eye contact the whole time.

"I'll see you then." She smiles, and for the first time in two weeks, she's looking forward to her evening.

* * *

When he comes over later that day, it's with a tub of vanilla-strawberry ice cream.

"It didn't feel right to come empty handed. And I know it's your favorite," he says. When she smiles at him, he's glad to be wearing his well-trusted beanie to cover up his ears turning red. It's embarrassing just how much this simple gesture affects him, but he tries not to let it show.

The dinner goes by quickly as they both talk about their respective internships. Betty is treated more like an under-appreciated personal assistant than an aspiring journalist, but it's been barely two weeks, her optimism not wavering too much. Not yet, anyway.

Jughead doesn't complain too much about the job he's landed at Melville House Publishing. However, being grouped with a bunch of people who have no respect for personal space or his need for quiet during lunch will probably end in murder by the end of the summer. He's only half joking, but Betty starts apologizing for dragging him over when he probably just wanted to finally have some peace and quiet.

"It's different," he says but doesn't elaborate any further, his hand lightly brushing hers as he does so.

Despite Betty's protests, he ends up doing the dishes while they bicker about what movie to watch. There is something so utterly domestic about it, but neither of them wants to admit how much they like that feeling.

After twenty minutes, they can't agree on a movie, they end up watching two, each of them picking one. Jughead, of course, a Tarantino film, while Betty chooses _The Devil Wears Prada_, saying she feels like it resonates with her at the moment.

Somewhere in between, Betty invites him to dinner the following evening, which ends up turning into every evening for the next week. Before they even realize it, they fall into a routine of dinner and a movie, neither of them wanting to admit just how lonely they'd felt before.

* * *

It's day nine, and as all the previous days, at exactly six o'clock, there is a knock on Betty's door. She's grown accustomed to it, even excited if she lets herself admit that, but today the noise startles her. It surely can't be six yet, can it?

"Betts? Are you there?" Jughead asks from behind the door when it takes her longer than usually to get there.

"One second!" she calls back, quickly wiping any remaining tears from her cheeks and checking her face in her phone to make sure her mascara isn't smudged. She did end up investing in a waterproof one after all.

"Sorry, lost a track of time. Come in," Betty says with an unnaturally wide smile, ushering Jughead in and hoping he can't tell that there were tears streaming down her face mere minutes ago.

Jughead, however, can see right through her. "Are you okay? Did something happen?" he asks, the worry apparent in his voice.

"No. I mean, yes. It's nothing. I'm fine." She waves her hand, trying to appear nonchalant. She's been inviting Jughead over to have a good time and relax, the last thing she wants to do is to burden him with her problems.

"Betts..." Jughead's not one to pry. He values his privacy, probably more than most people, and while he doesn't want to assume that he _really_ knows Betty, he dares to say he knows her enough. Enough to see that something is wrong, her ever-present sweet smile replaced by red rimmed eyes, her voice, instead of being filled with enthusiasm, wavering.

"You can tell me anything," he prompts, and after a second of hesitation, places his hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

"It's just... I had a terrible day at work. I got yelled and blamed for something I didn't do because, still, despite my best efforts, they don't let me do anything that is actually related to journalism," she explains with a sigh. "Then when I got home my mom called me, asking about the internship and when she'll be able to read anything I've written there. And when I told her that wouldn't happen anytime soon, she told me..." Betty's voice trembles and tears flood her eyes once again.

"She told me I wasn't trying hard enough and I should've just stayed in Riverdale and worked for the Register instead of wasting their money in New York." She can barely finish her sentence before her voice breaks and the tears that were only threatening to spill a few seconds ago are now freely running down her cheeks.

Jughead's first instinct is to wrap his arms around Betty and pull her against his chest in a desperate need to comfort her. At first she doesn't react, and just as he starts to worry about overstepping the boundaries, Betty snakes her arms around his waist and buries her face into his shirt, her body gently shaking with sobs.

He tightens his grip while bringing one of his hands to her back, rubbing slow circles, attempting to comfort her. He hadn't had many chances to meet Alice Cooper during his years living in Riverdale and decided not to make his opinion of her based purely on what he heard from other people. But now, seeing what one phone call from her did to Betty, he passed his judgment rather easily. Right now, he hates her. Eventually, Jughead feels Betty's breathing even out, and he loosens his grip on her slightly.

"I'm sorry, I'm overreacting," she says and pulls away a little, wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand. "It's just that my mom..."

"Your mom is a bitch," Jughead finishes for her, eliciting a small chuckle from Betty.

While his general dislike for most people and tendency for over dramatization is well known among his friends, she's seldom heard him speak ill of anyone. Especially those who don't affect him directly.

"I know. But for some reason her opinion still gets to me." Betty lets out a frustrated sigh.

She thought that moving away from Riverdale, away from her mother, would mean that her opinions and expectations can no longer affect her. But as she's just found out, they seem to matter just the same.

"Which is understandable but... She's wrong this time. Soon someone will notice your talent and before you know it, all the magazines will be fighting over you."

"When did you become such an optimist?"

"I'm not. I just... I know that you can do it, Betts. Don't let anyone discourage you." He takes her hands into his, giving them a light squeeze. "Also... I know I usually don't show a lot of empathy, but you can always talk to me. Always. Don't let it build up, okay?"

Betty nods and he gives her the kind of smile that makes her heart flutter and wonders whether he ever smiles like that at anyone else. If so, she concludes, that person is very lucky. "Thank you, Juggie. I really needed this."

"That's why I'm here." He smirks, giving her hands one more squeeze before reluctantly letting go of them. "Well, that and the food."

"Oh my god! The dinner!" she exclaims in panic. "I was so distraught I lost a track of time and I didn't even get started on the food. I can make something if you just give me just half an hour. Or maybe we can order in? I'm sorry, I really..."

"Hey, it's okay." He places his hands on her arms, trying to stop her from freaking out. He feels bad enough for Betty inviting him over for free dinner every night and only accepts it because she says she loves cooking. But right now, she seems too distraught to do that and making her feel guilty about it is the last thing he wants. "You don't owe me anything. Actually, I owe you. So how about you just sit down, while I cook us something. Okay?"

"You're gonna cook?" Betty raises her eyebrows in surprise. It's not that she doesn't believe in his abilities. But the fact that he knows all the fast food and delivery places in the ten mile radius doesn't speak in his favor.

"I know what you're thinking. He's smart, funny, not too hard on the eyes, there is no way he can cook, too." He grins at her and a small laugh escapes her lips. "But I can, in fact, make some simple things. Especially if you tell me what to do. Maybe it can be like one of those cooking shows. You know, those ones where one person is cooking and totally clueless while the other is trying to navigate them but ends up getting mad and yelling at them."

"I don't think I've ever seen that, but it sounds more stressful than fun." Betty scrunches up her eyebrows.

"They probably only air it at like three in the morning, but trust me, it's fun." She doesn't ask why he watches TV at three in the morning, or why he finds it funny, but she'll take his word for it.

After inspecting the fridge and the cupboard for a few moments, Jughead decides to go for a simple chicken stir fry. While he does have some skills, he'd rather not make a fool out of himself in front of Betty. She's like a goddess when it comes to cooking, and just about anything else he's seen her do, so he knows his dinner won't compare to hers, but he has a desperate need to cheer her up and he's not sure where it's coming from. Or maybe he is. Betty's genuine happy smile is the best thing he's ever seen, and putting it there, especially when she's having a difficult day, would feel like the biggest accomplishment.

Betty sits on a bar stool that gives her a clear view of the kitchen and watches Jughead work, only giving him a few instructions here and there while he tells her about his day at work, going into great detail about his fellow intern who couldn't operate the printer to save his life, but still refused help, driving everyone crazy in the process. By the end of his story, she's in stitches, tears running down her face for a completely different reason.

Jughead's heart swells with pride when he sees her reaction and he grins, already trying to think of another story to tell her. He never wants that happy look to leave her face. As he gets lost in his thoughts for a moment, Jughead doesn't notice her joining him by the counter until he feels her hand on his.

"If you keep cutting at this pace, we won't eat until the morning," Betty says with a chuckle, taking the knife out of his hand and gently shoving him out of the way. While it's been a lot of fun to watch Jughead try to find his way around her kitchen, her stomach is starting to growl and he's made barely any progress.

"Well, excuse me, but my fingers are pretty important to me. I'd rather not lose any," he says in mock offense.

"Then I guess I need to teach you how to both cut fast and keep your fingers." Betty grins as she cuts the rest of the bell peppers that Jughead started, before moving on to the carrots.

"Are you offering me a cooking lesson?" He raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"If you want," she replies with a shrug. "Cooking with someone is always more fun than doing it alone."

"I guess it can't hurt to learn from the best," he says, and Betty's cheeks grow pink.

"Let's get to it then."

* * *

"People don't want to believe me, but when I was little I looked a lot like Ross' son," Jughead announces out of nowhere, halfway through their third episode of Friends. It was Betty's decision to watch something lighthearted, and while Jughead made many suggestions about what to watch, in the end he let her choose the classic sitcom.

Betty narrows her eyes, her gaze quickly flicking between the screen and Jughead's face before she gives him a slight nod. "I believe that. But just because I still have the class photo from preschool somewhere."

"Oh, yeah, those were the days. You made me play Barbies with you while Archie was off eating sand or something," he says and they both laugh at the memory.

"I've never told you this, but I actually cried when I found out you weren't gonna go to school with us anymore and begged my mom and Archie's dad to transfer us to Southside Elementary."

"You… you did?" Suddenly, Jughead feels like there is something stuck in his throat.

Thanks to their dads, Jughead and Archie managed to remain friends despite living on opposite sides of town. His friendship with Betty, on the other hand, quickly faded away once they didn't get to see each other every day. The whole time he assumed that Betty forgot about him the moment the pre-school door closed behind them for the last time.

"Of course! You were such a good friend to me. And I… I wish I tried harder to maintain it." She casts her eyes down, feeling guilty.

Logically, she knows that it wasn't her fault her mother didn't let her go to Pop's without supervision until she was ten. She knows it wasn't her fault Alice told her that the Sweetwater Summer Camp that both Archie and Jughead attended every year was 'no place for young ladies like her.' She knows it wasn't her fault that her friendship with Jughead became nonexistent. It was her mother's efforts to keep her away from anyone who even associated themselves with the Southside. But still, she wishes she did more to keep Jughead in her life, wondering how different things would be.

"We were six. There wasn't much any of us could've done." Jughead nudges her with his elbow and Betty quickly tries to chase those thoughts away. She can't change the past, but she can do her best to enjoy the present.

"Well, thankfully, fate in the form of our ginger best friend brought us back together." Betty smiles and gives his hand a quick squeeze.

"Yeah," Jughead agrees with a small smile and they both grow quiet for a moment, their attention drawn back to the TV. "I still remember those cookies you used to bring like it was yesterday," he says all of a sudden.

"I did make them yesterday," Betty reminds him with a giggle.

"Oh, right. Well it only took some fifteen years for us to reunite. They're delicious."

"I bet you're happy about that," she says, and he replies with a smile. The cookies are not the only thing he likes having back in his life.

* * *

Before Jughead leaves that night, Betty gives him one more tight hug and "thank you."

"Anytime," he whispers, his face buried in her hair. He wonders whether he'll ever get a chance to hold her like this again and, assuming it's unlikely, tries to savor this moment.

When they pull away, she misses his touch. For someone who gives so few hugs, Jughead is excellent at it. His chest is somehow both firm and soft and the way he wraps his arms around her makes her feel safe and calm, much better than any of her doctor-prescribed medication.

They both have trouble falling asleep that night, and it's not because of the terribly humidity that makes the whole of New York feel sticky.

* * *

"Maybe you should give Archie some lessons. That boy can't even make a coffee without burning it," Jughead says as he cuts the tomatoes, his mouth already salivating at the thought of the finished meal.

As it turned out, Betty's offer to bestow some of her cooking skills on him wasn't just a one-time thing, and they've spent the last couple of evenings preparing dinner side by side while she gives him pointers and shares her best family recipes.

"Oh, trust me, I've tried." Betty laughs at the memory, though back then she didn't find it as hilarious.

"Before we left for college he asked me to teach him some basic recipes. He'd sprained his wrist and set my oven mitts on fire twice before I gave up. He's a lost cause."

"I thought Betty Cooper never gives up," he teases.

"Sometimes even I have to cut my losses," Betty says with a shrug as they continue to work on their respective tasks in silence.

"Oh, fuck!"

The silence is quickly interrupted as Jughead lets out a loud hiss when the knife slices through the skin of his finger.

"What happened?" Betty rushes to his side and grabs his hand to assess the situation.

Thankfully the cut doesn't seem to be deep, but bright red blood is gushing out of the wound. "It's gonna be fine. C'mere," she says and pulls him towards the sink, sticking his hand under the faucet and turning on the cold water.

"Just keep it there for a bit," she instructs, and starts rummaging through one of the kitchen cabinets until she finds a small first aid kid.

Jughead doesn't say anything, just silently curses himself. _That's what you get for ogling your friend, _he watches as the red tinted water goes down the drain, and by the time Betty is back by his side, his finger has stopped bleeding.

"Let me see," Betty says and takes his hand into hers once again, drying the wounded finger with a paper towel. "It seems pretty superficial, but I guess it's better if we put a band aid over it." Jughead doesn't protest and a moment later she's delicately wrapping a bright pink band aid over his cut.

"Thank you, Dr. Cooper. I'm certain your excellent care will assure my speedy recovery." He grins at her, ready to get back to cutting the tomatoes, but she keeps holding his hand in hers.

Without a word she brings Jughead's hand to her face and presses her lips to his wounded finger for the briefest moment. "That should speed up the healing process," she says in a low voice, her eyes cast down while Jughead stares at her wordlessly, trying to make sense of what she's just done and how to react to it.

When Betty looks up again she sees his icy blue eyes boring into her and a flush spreads across her cheeks. She's not sure why she's just done that. Maybe it's that glass of wine she drank while cooking getting to her head. After all, she's not much of a drinker. But she feels like alcohol is not the reason she feels intoxicated in Jughead's presence. She's about to get back to her previous task of mixing the salad dressing and pretend nothing weird happened, but as she pulls always Jughead grabs her wrist, stopping her.

She looks up at him questioningly, but he doesn't say anything. "What?" she asks in almost a whisper, her gaze moving from his eyes to his lips and quickly back up again.

She raises her eyebrow and Jughead seems to take a deep breath, as if to say something important, and then he's kissing her. For a second, she's too stunned to move, and he seems to hesitate at her lack of response. But then, just as he's about to pull away and apologize for his rash decision, she places her hand on the back of his neck, pulling his face closer to deepen the kiss.

When his lips touch hers, Jughead is the most nervous he's ever been, but at the same time, no kiss has ever felt this right. She pulls him closer and he presses his hands into her hips with newfound confidence, pushing her against the kitchen counter.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time," he whispers as if afraid to admit the feelings he's been carrying around for so long.

"Me too," Betty replies with her eyes still closed, worried that opening them will end the dream she's currently in.

It takes her a few seconds before she reluctantly does and the first thing she sees is the way Jughead is looking at her, with his cheeks flushed and the sweetest smile she's ever seen on his face. She thinks she may still be dreaming when her hands reach for his face, pulling him in for another kiss. If she is, at least she'll make the most of it.

Their lips barely connect again when the kitchen timer goes off, making them both jump and bump their noses in the process.

"Oww," Betty yelps, rubbing her nose.

"I'm so sorry, Betts. Are you okay?" Jughead asks, slightly alarmed that he's hurt her. He has imagined kissing Betty an embarrassing number of times, the pessimist in him including multiple scenarios where she rejects him, but not once did he think he may actually cause her harm. _It didn't take too long to screw things up._

"Yeah." She nods and he pulls her hand away from her nose to examine it. Now is not the time for self-pity.

"Seems alright to me," he states after a moment. He's no doctor, but he managed to break someone's nose once and at least he can say that Betty's looks nothing like that, which puts him at ease a little. Maybe he didn't screw up that bad. "But I've heard there is a way of making things heal faster." He gives her a little grin and lightly presses his lips to the tip of her nose for the briefest moment, making her giggle.

"Feels better already." Betty smiles and wiggles her nose around experimentally. "All thanks to you, Dr. Jones," she mimics his earlier tone and he feels relief wash over him. They start inching towards each other again when Betty suddenly stop him. "The chicken will get dry if we keep it in the oven," she whispers.

"Right." Jughead pulls away from her with a nervous laugh. He wants to tell her he doesn't care about the chicken as long as he gets to kiss her again. Which, coming from him, shows how much he wants her more than any other words, but instead he just takes a step back, allowing her to access the oven.

"But..." Betty bites her lip and presses her hand against his chest. Her fingers curl in a little against the fabric of his shirt and all she wants to do is pull his lips back to hers. "To be continued."

It's not a question but he nods anyway.

After that evening, their routine changes slightly. They still meet every evening, cook and eat together, but they don't fight about the movie anymore. They know it will be forgotten less than midway through in favor of exploring each other.

**Present**

"Okay, maybe I threw myself at you a little. But technically, you kissed me first."

"The best decision I've made in a while." He grins and brings his lips to hers once again, rolling them over to continue the kisses down her neck and chest.

"I'm glad I pushed you towards it," she breathes. "We waited too long."

"Too damn long," Jughead mutters against her skin. They'd been dancing around each other and he wishes he had the courage to confess his attraction sooner, but now he's sure to make up for any lost time.

The heavy breaths and low moans are suddenly interrupted by a buzzing sound coming from the floor next to the bed where Jughead hastily discarded his pants, but they decide to ignore it.

"What is it?" Jughead groans in annoyance, separating himself from Betty when the buzzing comes again, reaching for his phone. Whoever is interrupting him during this moment better have a good reason. He unlocks his phone to see two messages from the same number.

**Archie: Ronnie is coming to spend the night.**

**Archie: You may want to put earplugs in.**

He sighs and shows the messages to Betty, just as another one comes in, causing her to giggle.

**Archie: Do you think we have any whipped cream in the fridge?**

"Seem like they'll be having a fun night." Betty chuckles.

"I was having a fun night," he lets out a frustrated grunt. "But I guess this my cue to go. Need to put in the earplugs and pop a few sleeping pills to be able to sleep through what is likely to be a very loud reunion between those two." He rolls his eyes, but instantly feels like a hypocrite. Archie and Veronica had been apart for three months, while he could barely stay away from Betty for one day without ravishing her at the first chance he got.

"Maybe you could... stay here," Betty suggests, biting her lip.

During the summer, he spent more nights in her bed than in his own, but after deciding to keep things a secret from their friends, they knew it would have to stop for the time being. It's only been one night so far and Betty already hates falling asleep without at least a part of him wrapped around her and then waking up to an empty bed in the morning.

"If Ronnie's not coming back tonight, they probably won't even notice you're not there and... we could have more time together."

"Aren't you worried they'll find out?" Jughead asks. He instantly feels like kicking himself. What the hell is wrong with him for even thinking about reasons not to stay?

"That's part of the fun, isn't it?" Betty shrugs. Her green eyes sparkle with mischief and Jughead knows that when she looks at him like that, he'd do anything.

"Well then..." he puts his phone on Betty's nightstand before turning back to her with a grin, "where did we leave off?"


	3. Chapter 3

Betty and Jughead are sleeping soundly, his arms loosely wrapped around her waist, the early September sun warming up the room to just the right temperature for them to need the light blanket and the warmth of each other's body to make them feel perfectly cozy. Betty's sleep is, however, disturbed when she hears the front door of the apartment slamming shut.

"Shit!" she mutters under her breath when she glances at the clock that reads 9:15am. She didn't mean to sleep that long. Jughead was supposed to sneak back into his apartment before either Archie or Veronica woke up. But after they decided to make the most out of their night, again and again, she must've been too tired to think of setting an alarm.

She quickly extracts herself from Jughead's arms, pulling on a pair of pajamas that she didn't get a chance to wear last night and slips out of her bedroom, making sure to not wake him up.

"Ronnie! You're home already?" Betty exclaims, as if surprised to see her roommate.

"Doing the walk of shame, I know." Veronica gives her a small smirk that says she's certainly not ashamed. She's wearing the same skirt as last night, but instead of her own top she's wearing Archie's light blue button-up, and despite it being way too big on her, somehow she manages to pull it off with perfect elegance.

"So, how was your date?" Betty asks, knowing that Veronica is dying to tell her and won't wait for prompting much longer.

"Oh, B, last night was amazing! The restaurant we went to was simply spectacular. The food, the music. It even had a tiny dance floor." She sighs, the look on her face all dreamy. Being sort of a socialite and having visited most of the prestigious places in New York, it's not every day that Veronica finds a restaurant impressive. "I so wish you had a boyfriend so we could go on double dates there. It's perfect for that."

"Yeah." Betty gives her a tight lipped smile. This is exactly the reason she and Jughead decided not to tell Veronica about their relationship. While they both love their friends dearly, they don't want to make a big deal out of it and involve other people just yet. And they definitely don't want to get roped into their friends' double dating obsession.

A couple of months ago, Veronica and Archie met another couple their age and quickly fell in love with the idea of double dating. But after a few weeks of dance classes, weekend long spa retreats and dinner parties, the two couples slowly started to get tired of each other. They never officially broke it off, and instead began actively avoiding each other on campus, never visiting the places they used to go to together and acting like a pair of exes who ended their relationship on a bad note. They swore to never get into that type of relationship with another couple, but Betty and Jughead knew it was only a matter of time before they'd start considering it again.

At the time they thought it would happen whenever Betty or Jughead found a new partner, not counting on the possibility that they'd find themselves in a relationship with each other. This situation that is probably Veronica's biggest dream is also Betty and Jughead's biggest nightmare.

"I'm going to make breakfast. Do you want an egg white omelet?" Betty asks, trying to change the topic before Veronica has a chance to bring up her potential boyfriend candidates again. During one of their snack breaks last night, Betty ended up scrolling through the profiles of her possible suitors that Veronica sent her, while Jughead criticized her choices.

"_He doesn't even wear a stupid crown beanie all the time. Why would you want him?" he asks, pointing at one of the men with a scowl._

"_I wouldn't. The beanie is a deal breaker." Betty grins at him, snuggling into his side. "And I already have one hot beanie-wearing man right here."_

"Oh, no, thanks," Veronica replies, pulling Betty out of her thoughts. "Archie and I are heading out to have brunch. But you guys should come too."

"We as in..." Betty trails off, acting confused. It's not like Veronica has any reason to suspect anything, but lying to her friends still makes Betty feel paranoid that they'll figure it out before Betty and Jughead themselves have a chance to tell them.

"You and Jughead, of course," Veronica says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Then again, it's not like they ever really hang out with anyone else. "I told Archie to ask him when he wakes up. We still have so much to catch up on. And who doesn't love brunch, right?"

"Yeah." Betty grins at her, trying to hide the nervousness that suddenly overcame her. "Brunch is awesome."

"Well anyway, I gotta hop in the shower because I'm a sweaty mess after last night." Veronica giggles, making her way towards the bathroom. "Be ready in an hour?"

Betty nods quickly, the wheels in her head already spinning. If Veronica wants them to leave in an hour, it's probably not long before Archie wakes up, looking for Jughead. Jughead who is currently still sleeping in her bed, completely unaware of his surroundings.

As the door on the bathroom close behind Veronica, Betty rushes towards her bedroom. While her friend likes to take her time when getting ready, there is only so long before she gets out.

"Jug, c'mon, you gotta get up," Betty whispers, shaking him gently but with urgency. Usually when she knows he only has a few more minutes before his alarm is set to go off she starts pressing soft kisses to his face and lips and running her hand through his hair, causing him to wake up slowly and with a smile on his face. This is not one of those mornings.

"No. Sleep," he mumbles with his face buried in the pillow, showing no signs of trying to get out of the bed.

"C'mon, Juggie," she pleads, rubbing his back. "Veronica got back and she just went to take a shower. You need to get back into your apartment before she finds you here and freaks out."

The mention of Veronica makes his eyes shoot open and he jumps out of the bed so quickly it makes the room spin. Betty needs to grab his arm to keep him from falling back into bed. "Is that idea so bad?" she asks, trying to stifle her giggle as Jughead attempts to regain his balance.

"You know how she is. I don't want her interrogating me with my morning wood still up." He scrunches up his face and this time she can't stop the laugh from escaping her throat.

"You're adorable." Betty smiles and kisses him softly as she shoves his clothes and beanie into his hands. "But you need to get dressed and get out of this apartment before she sees you if you want to avoid that."

He quickly does as he's told and Betty sticks her head out of her bedroom door to make sure the coast is clear. She doesn't hear the water running but knows that Veronica likes to indulge in a dry brushing session before her shower, so she doesn't question it. Betty gestures at him to follow her and they quietly make their way toward the front door. They don't dare to speak or stop, but Betty presses a quick yet hard kiss to Jughead's lips before swiftly closing the door. She's not fast enough, because right at that moment, Veronica walks out of the bathroom, wrapped up in her silk bathrobe.

"Who was that?" she asks, her pointed eyebrow raising when she sees her best friend awkwardly hovering by the door.

"No one. I just... I thought I heard a knock. But I must've imagined it." Betty shrugs, hoping to play it off.

"Oh, okay," Veronica replies, not giving much thought to her friend's strange behavior as she makes her way toward her bedroom, shuffling through one of her suitcases that she didn't get to open the day before. "I just remembered I haven't unpacked the new conditioner I got in Paris and it seriously works wonders. It's got Kaempferia Galanga root extract. I don't know what that is, but it's supposed to provide natural UV protection. Isn't that amazing?" she asks as she re-emerges from her room with a fancy-looking bottle in her hands that must've cost more than all of Betty's beauty products combined.

"It is." Betty nods with a polite smile. With their friendship growing so quickly, she sometimes forgets how different their backgrounds are and how miraculous it was they even met in the first place.

When Betty first saw Veronica, she was sitting on her satin sheets in their tiny, dingy looking dorm room, reading the newest issue of Vogue and Betty wondered whether she entered the wrong room.

Despite her initial friendliness, Betty expected Veronica to be a roommate from hell. A spoiled socialite attending NYU and living in the dorms as some sort of experiment or perhaps a punishment from her filthy rich parents. Of course, she didn't tell her any of that, and Veronica explained her situation by saying she wanted an authentic college experience. Betty wondered how authentic it could be when she kept wearing her Louboutins to class and scribbling her notes with a Montblanc. But Betty Cooper has always tried to give people a chance, and this time it was the best decision she could've made.

Despite their obvious differences, Betty and Veronica quickly became best friends. Two years later, while living together in a small apartment in Brooklyn, it was becoming easier and easier to forget about their different upbringings. Well, sometimes.

"Of course I got you one as well. Only the best for my best girl." Veronica gives her a bright smile and disappears into the bathroom again.

* * *

Jughead barely makes it two steps into his apartment, trying to stay as quiet as possible, when the creaking of Archie's door startles him.

"Jug? What are you doing up?" Archie asks with a yawn. He heads straight for the coffee machine, trying to rub the sleepiness from his eyes. "And why are you dressed?" he adds with confusion. Everybody who knows him at least a little knows that Jughead Jones is a night owl and likes to sleep in as long as his schedule allows him. So it's rather rare to see him up, let alone dressed to go out before Archie.

"Ummm... I just woke up, but we don't have the cereal I'm craving so I thought I'd pop into the store real quick."_ Good thinking. _Jughead praises himself for the quick lie and Archie doesn't seem to question it. He knows that Jughead is always particular about his cereal choice so it's not too surprising to him.

"Ronnie and I are going out for brunch and she asked me to invite you. She says there's this new place she wants to try out. Some Spanish name I don't remember. Or maybe it was a word she used to describe it. You know I don't speak Spanish," he says, running his hand through his hair. "But I bet they have better stuff than cereal."

"I'm not sure if..." Jughead starts to protest. He's not one to turn down food under any circumstances, and while he usually likes hanging out with Archie and Veronica, especially when it includes food that is more than likely going to be paid for by Veronica, he suspects they'll be all over each other today even more so than usually. He doesn't need to be a part of that. And, well, after last night, he could use some more sleep.

"I'm sure Betty will be there as well," Archie says matter of factly as he watches the brown liquid slowly drip into his cup.

"Why should I care if Betty is there?" _Okay, way to lose your cool, Jones. _He quickly berates himself. "I mean... why does it matter?" he attempts to fix his response, but feels like he's only digging himself deeper. Why is it that a simple mention of her name is turning his brain into mush?

Archie is a bit taken aback by Jughead's response but doesn't dwell on it for too long. "I'm just saying you won't be third wheeling, if that's what you're worried about."

"Yeah, right. I hate doing that," Jughead mutters. At least that much isn't a lie.

"So are you in?" Archie asks, taking a sip of his coffee and quickly pulling the cup away as the freshly brewed liquid burns his tongue.

"Sure," he replies with a shrug. "Sounds great."

* * *

A little less than an hour later Betty smiles at her reflection in the mirror by the front door as she applies a thin coat of strawberry lip gloss. She hadn't worn lip gloss since high school, but her niece gifted her this one and after putting it on one day, she found out Jughead couldn't stop kissing her, saying it only intensified the already addicting taste of her lips. She laughed at him then and called him silly, but continued wearing it every now and then, if only to see the way his eyes lit up when he noticed her shiny lips.

While she knows there will be no opportunity for kissing Jughead at brunch, she likes the idea of teasing him a little. Which is why she's wearing her short, flowy, red dress with tiny white flower pattern that she wore to one of their first unofficial dates.

They spent that day walking around the MoMA hand in hand, making up funny stories behind the paintings until they were laughing so hard people were giving them weird stares and they felt forced to leave. They continued with a stroll in the park and by the time they got back they were so eager for each other that she didn't even bother taking off her dress before Jughead slid between her thighs while pushing her against the front door. It was a wonderful day. One of many since they've both finally admitted they wanted to be more than just friends.

"I'm ready," Veronica announces as she waltzes into the living room, pulling Betty out of her thoughts and she tries to hide the grin that formed on her lips. But once again, Veronica is faster. "What got you all smiley?"

"Nothing. I just... love brunch. And I can't wait for all of us to hang out together again." It's not exactly the truth, but she did miss her friends and looks forward to spending more time with them again.

"Me too, B, me too." Veronica clasps her hands in excitement. "And we're gonna do a lot more of that now that I'm back. You'll see."

* * *

"Are you ever not complaining about something?" Veronica asks with a roll of her eyes. They've been at the restaurant for less than fifteen minutes and Jughead has already managed to criticize the air conditioning being too strong and the coffee not being strong enough, but mainly the lack of food to munch on while they wait for their orders to arrive.

"Well excuse me if I'm not in the best mood this morning. I didn't exactly get a lot of sleep thanks to the two of you." It's not really a lie, he thinks. He didn't get a lot of sleep, though he could hardly complain about that. What he'd like to complain about is not getting to spend the morning in bed with Betty due to Veronica storming back to their apartment way too early.

"Maybe you should try it sometimes. Might wash the grumpy look off your face," Veronica bites back and he grows silent. She shoots him a triumphant smile and he decides to take out his phone and distract himself until their food arrives. Lack of sleep and food in his stomach is not a good combination when trying to deal with anyone, especially Veronica. Thankfully, his friends are pretty used to his grumpiness and unwillingness to communicate until he fills his stomach, so they don't find it strange or offensive when he chooses to ignore them.

They all grow silent for a moment before Archie starts telling them a story about a gig he played in LA and a bunch of middle-aged ladies who threw their underwear at him. Betty listens to him intently, laughing at his dramatic reenactment of the night when she feels her phone buzz on the table. While trying to keep her attention at Archie she quickly unlocks her phone and sees notification of a new text.

**Jughead: You look extra gorgeous today x**

Betty bites her lip in order to hide the grin that is threatening to spread across her face and glances over at Jughead who is still staring at his phone with a perfect poker face. She wonders how he manages to do that when she's dying to crawl into his lap so they can eat breakfast together like they did just a few days ago.

When Jughead feels Betty's gaze at him, he looks up and sends her the tiniest, briefest smile to let her know he's on the same wavelength, and a couple of seconds later her phone buzzes again.

**Jughead: Would they notice if we just disappeared into the bathroom together until the food comes?**

This time Betty is unable to hide her smirk when she reads the message, and of course Veronica is quick to pick up on it.

"Is someone texting you, B?" Veronica asks with curiosity. As it seems, while she got distracted by Jughead's texts, Archie managed to finish his story and Betty didn't even realize.

"No." Betty shakes her head quickly. "Just... Instagram. I have notifications on for an account that posts picture of puppies," she lies and Veronica purses her lips, not believing a single word that comes out of her best friend's lips.

"So you aren't by any chance talking to one of the guys I picked for you yesterday?" A tiny smirk appears on Veronica's plum-colored lips. She's confident that she knows exactly what her best friend is trying to hide.

"Does it always take this long for the food to arrive here?" Jughead interrupts before Betty has a chance to reply. "My stomach is trying to eat itself," he complains.

Veronica just rolls her eyes. It's the same complaint Jughead has whenever they go to eat somewhere.

"Don't be a drama queen, Jughead. You were eating a granola bar on the way here," she says, ready to get back to her conversation with Betty, but he interrupts her again.

"Yeah, a granola bar. That only sustains me for like ten minutes before I get even hungrier," Jughead explains, making Veronica groan in frustration while both Betty and Archie try to suppress their smirks.

Just then the waitress finally comes to their table carrying a stack of plates filled with a variety of foods, most of which, of course, are meant for Jughead.

"You'll manage to eat all of that?" the waitress asks as she spreads the plates in front of him.

"Yep. I have a bottomless stomach," he replies as his eyes scan the food, trying to decide what to eat first.

"You must work out a lot then," she says, brushing her hand across his bicep as if by accident, and while Jughead doesn't even register her touch, there is a pair of green eyes watching her every move.

"No, not really. I guess I'm just lucky to have fast metabolism." Jughead shrugs. It's the answer he gives everyone even though he's been told the truth makes people mad. The waitress, however, just smiles.

"Would you like some more coffee?" she asks when she sees Jughead's already managed to drain his cup.

"I'm good, thank you," he says, keeping the comment about their coffee being too watered down to be called that to himself.

"Something else to drink, perhaps? We have tea, juice, sparkling water, wine..." She trails off.

"Nah, this is fine," he says, lifting up the glass of water in front of him. "What about you guys?" He looks up from his plate, surprised to see all of his friends staring at him.

"That will be all. Thank you," Veronica speaks up for all of them, dismissing the young girl.

"Oh, okay then." The waitress sounds almost disappointed as she tucks the tray under her arm. "If you change your mind, I'll be just over there." She points towards the side of the big room and slowly walks away, turning around twice to look at Jughead before disappearing out of sight.

"Oh my god!" Veronica exclaims once the waitress is barely out of earshot.

"What?" Jughead raises his eyebrows, wondering what's making Veronica act so dramatic this time.

"That girl was checking you out so hard," Archie explains with a grin.

"Yeah, she was trying to flirt with you, but you totally blew her off," Veronica adds, looking mildly surprised, though it's not the first time she has seen Jughead be oblivious to a woman's advances.

"No, she wasn't." Jughead rolls his eyes, thinking his friends must be seeing things, but when his gaze lands on Betty, he notices the slight furrow of her brows.

"She was." Betty bites the inside of her cheek, trying to keep a scowl of her face. She knows jealousy is not a good look on anyone. And especially not when she's trying to keep her feelings about Jughead secret. So she's annoyed with herself more than anyone else for how much she wants to just wrap her arms around Jughead and yell at the waitress to back off.

"She was practically begging you to order something more just so she could come back here," she says, trying to appear nonchalant, while Archie and Veronica nod in agreement.

"Well, it doesn't matter if she was or wasn't because I'm not interested," he says, not even attempting to hide his annoyance. It's enough that he has to keep listening to Veronica pestering Betty about finding a boyfriend. He doesn't want to get roped into something similar. "I'm far more interested in finally digging into this food without all of you staring at me. So can we please do that?"

There is some incoherent muttering from Archie and Veronica, but eventually they turn their attention to their own breakfasts, leaving him alone. When he looks at Betty, her lips are still pursed in what he knows is a sign of annoyance and she's staring at her waffles way too intensely. He nudges her foot with his a couple of times and when she finally looks up, he gives her a soft little smile that's supposed to say, "Ignore those idiots." Betty seems to understand his message and smiles back at him. Only then he can finally dig into the food himself.


	4. Chapter 4

A dance club. Jughead is not sure how he got roped into this decision, but it's too late to get out now. Or maybe he does know how it happened. As always, Veronica suggested it and he only managed to resist as long as Betty's pleading eyes didn't meet his. And once they did, he knew that Betty's discomfort of being the third wheel was far more important to him than his own discomfort over whatever Veronica is trying to make them do this time.

The club they're going to is only a twenty-minute walk away from their building, but Veronica insists they take a cab because she's wearing unpractical shoes she can't possibly walk that far in. He wants to ask why she thinks they're the right choice for a dance club anyway, but decides to stop himself. The heels seem sharp and he's sure Veronica wouldn't hesitate to use them as a weapon.

When the cab arrives Jughead takes the front seat, not trusting himself to sit next to Betty. Her dress is riding up dangerously high, exposing her bare thighs, and he's already working hard enough to keep himself in check. There hasn't been a single moment when he didn't think of her as beautiful, but this is something else. She looks sexy, fierce, confident. All the things he already knows she is, but that she usually keeps hidden behind pastel clothing. He wishes he got to tell her before they left. Whisper it in her ear and watch the goosebumps spread from her neck down across her long legs. But Veronica and Archie were with them constantly so he didn't dare to stand close to her, knowing he couldn't keep himself from touching her, as if to find out whether her skin is as soft as it looks. He already knows the answer is yes, but he always needs to try anyway.

Once they get there everything is moving as fast as the beat of the music, which, in Jughead's opinion, is too fast to be enjoyable. They find themselves a booth to sit in and halfway through their first drink, Veronica is already pulling Betty towards the dance floor.

Archie stays behind, saying he needs some alcohol in his blood before he can attempt to bust out his best moves, and Jughead is glad nobody even tries to persuade him to join them. While sitting in a club sipping on a single beer is not his ideal type of evening, it's million times better than actually being forced to rub up against all the other sweaty bodies that use the excuse of a dance to dry hump each other. Watching them from a distance is a slightly better option.

Jughead tries to use this little outing as an opportunity for one of his favorite activities - people watching. As he already knows all the regulars and staff in his favorite coffee shop, he may as well use the time in the club he won't likely visit again to do observe many different people and their behavior. He knows it's a weird thing to do in a dance club, but being called a weirdo is hardly a new thing to him.

However, his people watching quickly ends up being rather unsuccessful when every ten seconds his eyes land back on Betty. He doesn't know anything about dancing, but even he can tell she moves with grace like nobody else around her. Her body moves perfectly in sync with the music even though it seems impossible to follow, if the other people on the dance floor are any indication. But she's Betty Cooper and he's sure she can do the impossible.

He manages to tear his eyes away for a bit but the next time they wander back, there is a tall blonde guy dancing with her, his hands resting on her hips and while Jughead can't see that far, he's more than sure his gaze is glued to Betty's cleavage. Jughead tightens his grip on the beer bottle and tries to swallow his jealousy. They haven't defined their relationship so he feels like he has no right to feel this way. And even if they did, Betty is a person, not an object he owns. But still, some primal instinct inside of him is telling him that nobody else should be touching Betty like that. It's a new kind of feeling. Different from the jealousy he used to feel before, whenever Betty went on a date with someone who wasn't him.

"It seems like Betty is getting a lot of attention," Archie says, nodding his hair towards the girls and Jughead wonders whether his best friend caught him staring, berating himself for putting his feelings on display.

"So is Veronica," Jughead replies, avoiding Archie's comment. "Doesn't it bother you to see all those guys basically salivating over her?" he asks, trying to sound casual as he nods his head to the raven haired girl on the dance floor. Two guys are trying to rub against her in a way that's he assumes is supposed to be a dance, but would surely get age restricted on Youtube.

"It used to. But Ronnie and I have been together for a while and I know that no matter what they say or do, she's not interested in them. If any of them tried to take it too far, she can stand her ground. And I'm keeping an eye on her," Archie explains with a shrug. "On both of them," he adds after a second and gives Jughead a look he's not sure how to interpret.

Jughead nods and brings the beer bottle to his lips as his eyes slide to Betty again. He knows she's capable of taking care of herself, he's seen it more than enough times. He silently watches her for a few more moments, his feelings battling inside of him.

The other man's hands are on her, and he can't help but compare himself negatively to what else is out there. He has never felt like this about anyone else. He thinks it might even be love. Just thinking about the word makes him feel all flustered and before he knows what he's doing, he shoots up from his seat, mumbling to Archie something about fresh air before darting towards the back entrance of the club.

* * *

While dance clubs are not really Betty's thing, she loves dancing. There is something about moving to the rhythm of the music that makes her feel relaxed and free of all the worries that plague her mind most of the time. There aren't many activities that make her feel that way. But other than shaking her hips around her apartment, there are few opportunities for her to really get lost in dancing. So when Veronica grabs her hand and pulls her towards the dance floor mere minutes after their arrival, she happily follows.

They're only dancing alone for a few minutes when three guys roughly their age start moving towards them with obvious determination. Betty doesn't catch their names as they whisper them to Veronica and frankly, she doesn't care. She didn't come here to meet anyone new. But it's not long before her best friend is pushing one of them, a tall blond guy, towards her with an exaggerated wink.

He re-introduces himself as Matt and Betty gives him a smile that's equal mixture of shy and awkward. While she doesn't see dancing as something that's necessarily sexual, she notices the way his eyes linger at her cleavage before they start moving together with the rhythm of the music, and she feels guilty for letting him ogle her that way with her boyfriend just a few feet away from her. Except Jughead's not her boyfriend. Not officially. But he's the man who, when their eyes meet, makes her heartbeat speed up and her skin flush. A simple label doesn't seem to cover how she feels about him and she wonders whether he feels the same way.

For the time being Betty tries to push those thoughts away and instead get lost in the music. It's what she came there to do after all. But ever since Matt's hands landed on her hips, things haven't felt right. She keeps sneaking glances at Jughead, wondering if he's enjoying himself more than she does, but there are too many people in the way for her to catch his gaze. When she finally sees him, he's getting up from his seat and heading towards the back of the club in a rush. A thousand thoughts flood her mind as she shakes Matt's hands from her hips, mumbling something about how she has to leave. She doesn't bother with a proper excuse and she doubts her cares, already moving to the next girl.

"Going to the ladies," she mouths to Veronica, not even trying to shout through the music and quickly tries to find her way through the mass of people on the dance floor. Once she finally pushes through the crowd of people, instead of turning to the hallway that leads to the restrooms she heads for what seems to be the back door of the club and the same door that Jughead was striding forward two minutes ago.

As she steps outside she's greeted by the fresh night air, welcoming it on her heated skin. She didn't even realize how uncomfortably hot it was inside and not just because she felt her best friend silently prompting her to make the most out of the hot guy rubbing against her. She shudders at the thought and looks around, trying to spot Jughead and hoping he didn't just get up and leave without a word.

"Jug," she says with a hint of relief when she sees him leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets and his face seemingly deep in thought.

"Oh, hey, Betts." He's a bit startled when he sees her, not expecting her to come looking for him. A bitter thought enters his mind about how she probably didn't even notice he was gone, too preoccupied with dancing with all the guys in the club that could give her more than he can. He quickly tries to chase those insecurities away. Betty has never given him a reason to doubt her feelings for him.

"What are you doing here?" she asks as she steps closer to him. She stops before touching him, suddenly feeling like she's intruding.

"Just... wanted some fresh air," he answers with a shrug. It's not a lie per se. He did feel like suffocating mere minutes ago, but it wasn't the thick hot air inside. It was the weight of his feelings pressing on his chest.

"You aren't mad that I danced with that guy, are you?" she asks, feeling like there is no point in beating around the bush. "Ronnie just kinda threw him at me and... It doesn't mean anything. But if it bothers you..." she trails off not sure what she wants to say. What would she do exactly?

"No, it's not... I'm not mad." Jughead shakes his head wondering whether Betty thought he was angry. Was he supposed to be? Did he even have a right to be? Certainly not.

"Jealous? Maybe a little," he admits sheepishly. "You're gorgeous. Of course guys will stare and try to dance with you or even touch you. But as long as you're comfortable with it, it's not my place to stop you," he says, thinking of Archie's words. "And I know we haven't even really talked about what we are or whether they might be some other people or..."

"Jug," Betty interrupts him, placing her hand on his chest. Is that what he was thinking? That she may want to see other people while seeing him? "I don't want there to be any other people."

She gives him a small smile and he feels a weight lifted off his chest. He never really expected Betty to want to see other people, but seeing her with that guy... Well, it certainly made him wonder about things he didn't want to think about.

"Me neither," he stammers out, not wanting her to think he's hesitating. Betty's small smile turns into a huge grin and she takes a step closer to him, pressing her lips to his in a soft sweet kiss, grateful for the high heels making things easier for once.

"So does that make you my girlfriend now or..." Jughead asks with a dorky smile once they break apart, feeling a sudden surge of confidence from a single kiss.

"Do you want me to be your girlfriend?" She looks up at him, her green eyes big, her bottom lip caught between her teeth and she wonders why they waited so long to confess their attraction to each other in the first place. She can hardly remember a time when she didn't want to be his girlfriend.

"I should be so lucky." He grins and this time when their lips meet it's everything but soft. Teeth tugging and biting in a desperate need to mark each other.

"You look so hot tonight," Jughead mutters against her collarbone. "So, so hot."

She wants to tell him she knows and that he looks hot too, the dark blue dress shirt that Veronica forced him to wear bringing out the color of his eyes even more. But instead of words, a gasp leaves her throat when his hands slide from her waist to her butt, pulling her closer to him. She grabs his face in her hands and brings his lips back to hers, swallowing his moans when she rolls her hips against his. They most definitely shouldn't be doing this here and now, but the outside world is momentarily forgotten when all they can think about is touching each other. A need that's very familiar to them.

Their feverish kisses and wandering hands are suddenly interrupted by the loud creak of the door that makes them both jump, though their bodies stay pressed together. If it had been either of their friends there would've been no chance to cover up what they were doing. Thankfully though, it's just a group of giggling girls stepping out of the club for a quick smoke break.

"We should probably get back inside before our friends start looking for us," Betty says with a sigh, not quite ready to extract herself from Jughead's arms. Her _boyfriend's_ arms. It's strange to call him that, but it feels right.

"Mmmm probably," he hums, leaning over the capture her lips with his again and showing no intention of moving from his current position.

"I'm serious," Betty murmurs between kisses. She wishes they could stay like this forever, but the idea of their friends catching them rattles her a little. While a part of her wants to stand on the roof and scream to the whole of New York that Jughead Jones is officially her boyfriend, she's not ready to let their little bubble burst.

"So am I." He grins against her lips and she can hear a hint of mischief in his voice. "We need to get out of here."

"What about Archie and Veronica?"

"We'll tell them we're tired, or hungry or something." He shrugs. None of those things is a lie so he assumed it shouldn't be hard to get past Veronica. "We haven't been here that long so I'll doubt they'll want to go home yet and then..."

"And then we can get some alone time," Betty finishes for him with a smirk. While she was the one who initially asked Jughead not to tell their friends about them just yet, he seems to be the one to enjoy the little game they're playing more than she thought he would.

"Precisely." Jughead nods with a proud look on his face.

"Okay, I'm gonna go back in first," she says, running her fingers through her hair to tame them a little. "How do I look?"

Jughead slowly drags his eyes up and down her body as a cheeky grin spreads across his face. "Absolutely fuckable." That low tone of his voice causes goosebumps to break across Betty's skin and she feels her cheeks flame up but doesn't let that phase her.

"Great!" she exclaims, her eyes quickly running over Jughead's face and neck to make sure there are no traces of her lipstick there. She finds none and silently thanks whoever created kissproof lipstick. "Don't forget to wipe that grin off your face before you come back inside," she reminds him.

His brows immediately furrow into a scowl, making her giggle.

She heads for the door leading back to the club, but just before she touches the door handle she turns back to him, a playful smile on her lips.

"And just so you know, you don't have to be jealous at all. Those guys might be rubbing all over me but it doesn't turn me on half as much as one look from you." She winks at him and disappears back inside. Now he'll definitely have trouble keeping the smirk off his face.

* * *

"Do you think it worked?" Veronica asks expectantly, clutching her boyfriend's arm.

"Well, he stormed out of here pretty quickly. But maybe that's just him being Jughead." Archie shrugs his shoulders.

"What are you guys chatting about?" Betty asks as she returns to their table, sitting down next to them.

"Music." "Football," Veronica and Archie say at the same time and both Veronica and Betty give him a confused look.

"I mean, music." He quickly brings the beer bottle to his lips to stop himself from saying anything more.

Betty furrows her brows but lets it slide, trying to focus on the lie she's about to tell them. Or maybe it's not a lie. She is tired. She persuades herself that if she doesn't think of it as a lie, she won't give herself away so easily. Because for someone who came up with the idea of keeping her relationship a secret, Betty is still a terrible liar. In fact, she's surprised that in the thirty-six hours that Veronica's been back, she hasn't been found out. Or so she hopes.

Betty takes a deep breath and covers her mouth with her hand, faking a big yawn.

"That dancing really tired me out," she announces, trying to sound casual. "Aren't you guys tired?" She looks at her friends and they both shake their heads like she expected them to. "I think I may need to end this night a bit early before I..."

"Guys, I'm famished. Do you know if they make any burgers here? Or at least fries?" Jughead interrupts them when he appears seemingly out of nowhere and slides in the booth next to Betty. "I thought I could smell onion, but that was probably just the mix of sweat and testosterone coming off the guys flexing their muscles on the dance floor." He scrunches up his face in disgust.

"How many dance clubs have you been to that make food?" Veronica raises an eyebrow, not sure why she's still surprised by Jughead asking for food in any and every situation.

"How many dance clubs have I been to in general?" he deflects with a question. "If you haven't noticed, this isn't exactly my scene."

"Why did you come here then?" Veronica scowls at him and Archie brings his hand to her back, rubbing small circles until he feels her shoulders relax.

"You threatened me that if I didn't participate on your crazy plan to make up for our last summer you'd put up an ad with my phone number offering phone sex to women above sixty." He shoots her a dirty look back.

He wasn't sure how many calls he'd get from the ad, but he was not willing to risk it. He knows Veronica Lodge well enough to take her threats seriously.

"Fair enough," Veronica admits, still a bit surprised she managed to persuade Jughead to come. Even though he's spent the whole time sitting down and sipping on one beer, things seem to be going according to her plan.

"Anyway, Betty was just telling us she's tired so maybe you could be a gentleman and walk her home. You can get a burger on the way. That way Archie and I can stay and dance some more and Betty can get home safely," she suggests with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. Neither Betty nor Jughead dare to question it. "Or do you wanna stay here?"

"Definitely not." He shakes his head, a bit surprised how easily their plan worked. Veronica must be very annoyed by his grumpy face after the whole day. "I'm ready when you are," he tells Betty and she quickly gathers her purse and cardigan that she brought for the walk home.

They bid a quick goodbye to their friends and two minutes later they're outside again. They walk in silence for a bit and as they round their first corner Betty slips her hand into Jughead's. He doesn't say anything, just squeezes it and gives her a small smile.

"You know," he speaks up after a moment, "I think I get it now. The thrill of hiding, sneaking around. I guess it's a kind of teenage experience everyone should have."

"Didn't you?" Betty asks with curiosity. While they'd met in kindergarten and seen each other briefly during childhood, by the time puberty hit they were completely off each other's radars. Since meeting again in college, they haven't talked much about the past, neither of them wanting to relive most of it.

"Back in Riverdale... It's not really sneaking around when neither of your parents care about where you are and what you're doing," he says matter-of-factly. Betty feels her heart squeeze.

"And in Toledo..." he trails off, thinking about the dreadful two years he spent in Ohio after his father was arrested and he was forced to move in with his mother. "I just put a lot of time into making sure I could get out of there. Dating wasn't high on my list of priorities."

"What do you think would've happened if we had dated in high school?" Betty asks, sensing that Jughead doesn't want to delve much deeper into that part of his life.

"I'd have probably climbed through your window just to kiss you," Jughead says with a shrug. He wouldn't admit it to her, but this is not the first time he's wondered about what their lives might have been like if things went a little differently in the past. Usually, he tries to dismiss the thoughts. While his teenage years sucked, he's happy now and he wouldn't risk changing anything.

"What else would you have done in my room?" she teases, the corner of her lips curling into a grin.

"You," he answers simply, smirking back at her, and Betty bites her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"I was a good girl in high school. Why do you think I would've let you?"

"I was a very persuasive teenager." He winks at her, making her flush.

They walk in silence for a few moments before Betty stop abruptly, tugging on Jughead's hand.

"I need you, Jug."

"Me too, actually. I know I said it mainly to get out of there, but I could really go for a burger right now."

"No, I need _you_, not _food_," she says, raising her eyebrows and staring deep into Jughead's eyes.

Jughead can't stifle a grin when he realizes what she really said, the thought of burgers quickly pushed aside. For now, at least.

"But, there is this place not far from here and... I think we could take care of both there."

Her cheeks are flaming red as she gets the suggestion out. It's not as clear or eloquent as she hoped it would be, but she's feeling nervous about Jughead's reaction. She has always felt a little adventurous. Vanilla might be her favorite flavor of milkshake, and the scent of her trusted shampoo, but that's where her preference for it ends. Still, she's never been with someone she trusted enough to share this side of her. Not until now.

"You sure?"

Betty nods and catches her lower lip between her teeth once again. Jughead feels heat stir low in his abdomen and knows he can't say no to her. Not that he'd ever want to. He squeezes her hand a bit tighter, his eyes already sparkling with mischief.

"Lead the way."

* * *

"It can't quite compare to Pop's burgers, but it was pretty good. Too bad we probably can't show our faces there again," Jughead says as they walk out of the elevator. Their moment in the handicapped bathroom seemingly didn't go unnoticed by the cashier. The whole time they were waiting for their order, she was giving them a look that was a mixture of amusement and disgust.

"Sorry about that," Betty apologizes. She's got a mischievous look on her face anyway, so he knows she has no regrets. Much to his surprise, he doesn't either.

In just a few steps they reach their respective apartment doors and Jughead can't help himself from letting out an involuntary sigh. If they want to keep their secret for even a little longer, they can't risk spending the night in the same bed again. And while they decided to only keep it going for two more weeks, just until they're all back in college and too busy for Veronica to micromanage them and turn every second they have into a crazy double date, the thought of not falling asleep next to Betty for so long feels awful.

"What's wrong?" Betty asks as she notes the sullen look on Jughead's face.

"I just realized there will be no pretty blonde and her tiny freezing feet sharing the bed with me tonight. For a lot of upcoming nights."

"I know. I'll miss your soft snores and drool on my pillowcase."

"I don't..." he starts to defend himself but stops when he sees the amused grin on Betty's face. "Really funny, Cooper."

"Don't worry, it will pass quickly enough. And until then we'll have stolen kisses and secret rendezvous." She smiles as her fingers brush the hair escaping from his beanie.

"Make outs in the hallways," he adds.

"Make... what?" she raises her eyebrow in confusion but instead of answering Jughead pushes her against the door of her apartment, ghosting his lips over hers.

"Make outs in the hallways," he repeats in a whisper and this time she understands him completely. His lips are still hovering over hers and she tries to chase them and pull him into a kiss. He's faster, moving his mouth to her jaw instead, slowly inching towards that place behind her ear that always makes her moan.

"Stop teasing if you're not gonna follow up on that," she whimpers, her breath catching in her throat when he gently drags his lips across her earlobe.

"You were teasing me all morning. It's only fair." He chuckles and goosebumps break out all over her body. He loves seeing how the faintest touch makes her body react so visibly.

"No, I wasn't," she breathes, trying to defend herself though she knows he's right. Despite her best efforts, he held up pretty well.

"Mhm, you were," he hums, his lips now brushing against her collarbone. She throws her head back, a silent invitation for him to kiss more of her neck, which he gladly takes.

"You wore that lip gloss knowing I wouldn't get to taste it. And the dress... god the dress."

The sound coming out of his throat is almost a growl. Keeping his poker face during brunch was incredibly hard, and if it wasn't for the huge amount of food to keep both his hands and mouth occupied, their secret would've been revealed.

"I didn't think you noticed," she says, glad to hear her teasing worked after all.

"Of course I noticed. I notice everything about you," he replies

He finally presses his lips to hers in a hungry kiss. His tongue sinks into her mouth and she grabs the back of his neck, pulling him closer as the fire inside her comes to life once again.

Betty never thought she could want someone this much. That she could feel so deeply for someone so quickly. It's equal parts scary and thrilling.

They hear the elevator ding and for the second time that night they spring apart, thinking that their friends decided to end their night early after all. They both breathe a sigh of relief when it turns out to be just one of their neighbors stumbling toward his apartment, too inebriated to even notice them.

"Is the universe trying to tell us to stop making out?" he asks with a frustrated huff.

"Nah…" Betty shakes her head with laugh as she takes his hands in hers, linking their fingers together. "It's telling us to find a better place to do it."

"And where would that be?" Jughead cocks his eyebrow, hoping that Betty has a solution up her sleeve.

"I don't think there's a place safe from Archie and Veronica," she says, and laughs when Jughead's face immediately falls in disappointment.

"We'll have to be creative for a while then," he says after a moment, bringing their joined hands to his face and lightly kissing Betty's knuckles.

"Are you sure you don't wanna spend the night in my bed?" Betty asks, batting her eyelashes at him. She knows it's a stupid idea. It's been less than two days and they've already almost been caught. If they want to keep their charade up for even a little longer, they'll have to try a bit harder.

"You know I do, but..." he groans, knowing he'll be kicking himself when he's lying alone in his bed, unable to fall asleep and thinking about Betty. "While I said I like the thrill of hiding, I'd rather not wake up to Veronica's face hovering over mine as she finds us in bed together."

"She'd probably scream if she saw us." Betty laughs at the idea. She has spent quite a bit of time thinking about how their friends are going to react once they find out about them. Archie is most likely going to be a bit confused and maybe a bit protective of Betty as she's basically his little sister. But ever since Archie and Jughead reconnected, their friendship became very sibling-like as well, so she hopes he'll be happy for them.

"Yeah, I don't wanna wake up to that either." Jughead shakes his head with laugh. The idea of Veronica finding out they were hiding their relationship from her scares him a little, but he's also not ready for her to stick her nose into their perfect little bubble.

"Well, then I guess we're sleeping alone tonight," Betty says with a pout.

Jughead wraps his arms around her once again before giving her a lingering kiss. When he pulls away, Betty lets out a quiet whimper, making him chuckle.

"With all my snoring and drooling you don't wanna sleep next to me anyway, right?" He smirks and Betty rolls her eyes, disentangling herself from his arms.

"Yeah. I'll enjoy that very much. I'll get the best sleep ever," she replies cheerfully, putting on her best fake grin.

"Then you better get that sleep quickly because I may have blamed my tiredness this morning on Archie and Veronica being too loud last night, so I think they'll be spending the night at your apartment," he says and gives her a small apologetic smile.

"Oh, no," Betty groans. While living with Veronica is otherwise a breeze, her and Archie's seemingly endless sex drive is something she could do without. Especially with the thin walls of their apartment muffling nothing. "I hate you."

"No, you don't," Jughead replies with confidence and leans over to peck her lips one more time. "Good night, Betts," he whispers, brushing his fingers along her jawline and reluctantly takes a step towards his apartment.

"Good night, Juggie," she says back.

They both stare at each other for a few more seconds before finally parting ways. It's gonna be long two weeks for both of them.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Veronica's plan to make the most out of every minute comes to a grinding halt. Jughead has a meeting at the university library about resuming his job there once the semester starts again, which conflicts with Veronica's plan to visit the David Bowie exhibition. Her evening plans to attend the trivia night at a nearby pub are also ruined when Betty tells her she has five dozen cupcakes to bake for an event at one of the youth centers in Brooklyn the following day. Veronica figures that may not be such a big loss after all. The last time they attended a trivia night there it had to end early because the half-drunk people from the other teams got too mad at them for getting all the answers right. The theme of the night was pop culture references and between her, Archie, Betty and Jughead, they were unbeatable.

So right now instead of sitting in a pub and possibly pissing off her opponents, Betty's furiously mixing the next batch of cupcakes while trying to keep an eye on those that are already in the oven.

Archie is sitting on the sofa strumming on his guitar. The event Betty volunteered her baking skills for lost their guitar player at the last minute and it didn't take much for her to convince Archie to take his spot. It's not the kind of place or audience he's used to, which is making him slightly nervous, but it's for a good cause and he could hardly say no to Betty's pleads. She was supporting his passion for music back when everyone else thought it was just another short-lived hobby that wouldn't lead anywhere, and he thinks that if it weren't for her, maybe he really would've given up.

"The kids are gonna love you, Arch, don't worry," Betty says with a bright smile, hoping to ease her friend's anxiety.

"I just don't wanna disappoint them."

He sighs, starting the song once again. Betty doesn't tell him that the teenage girls will probably be too crazy about his looks to be able to criticize anything about his performance. He's been trying to break free of the teenage heartthrob stereotype, but looking and sounding like a younger, American version of Ed Sheeran isn't exactly helping.

"So, how are things with Ronnie? Ever since you guys came back you've been together pretty much nonstop," Betty says as she spoons some batter into the muffin pan.

"Oh, Betty, I missed her so much," Archie replies with a dreamy look on his face that exclusively appears when he's talking about his girlfriend. "Despite the huge time difference we still got to talk every day, but there's only so much you can do on the phone."

He sighs, putting his guitar aside for a moment.

"I never realized how underappreciated webcams are until this summer," he adds with a smirk.

"You don't need to go into details." Betty scrunches up her face. Archie is like her brother, and while she's happy for him and Veronica, talking about sex is where she draws a line. Not that it ever stops Veronica from oversharing, but at least Archie seems to be a bit more considerate.

"I'm sorry." Archie laughs, realizing he got a bit carried away. "But I didn't just miss the sex. I think being away from her so long made me realize how much I just love holding her, hugging her, sleeping next to her." He chuckles, feeling like he sounds like the biggest sap. Never mind all the cheesy songs he's written about Veronica to this date.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Betty says with a smile, thinking about Jughead. While their sex life has been mind-blowing, even a simple, innocent touch from him has her feeling so loved, so safe. More than she's ever felt with anyone else. Not being able to just hold his hand or lean against him whenever they're around Archie and Veronica has been the biggest downside of hiding their relationship from their friends.

"You do?" Archie raises his eyebrow at her in surprise.

"Yeah, I mean..." Betty stammers, realizing what she has just let slip out. She has been in a couple of relationship, but before Jughead there hadn't been anyone she was truly enamored with. And while she doesn't share many of those details with Archie, he may be aware of that.

"I... I had that. In the past," she says quickly, squatting down to the oven and pretending to check on the cupcakes, hoping the redness in her face goes away before Archie has a chance to notice. Thankfully, he shrugs it off and goes back to practicing his song.

"Only thirty more to go." Betty sighs, but tries to keep her attitude positive as she pulls the cupcakes from the oven. After all, it's all for a good cause.

"You know, you could've asked for help," Archie says as he watches his best friend wipe a strand of hair from her face, leaving a smudge of flour on her cheek. While Betty claims she finds baking therapeutic, he doesn't understand it. Music is therapeutic. Working out is therapeutic. Baking is a fire hazard. There is nothing calming about that.

"From you?" Betty laughs at his suggestion. "Sorry, Arch, but I'll never let you in my kitchen ever again."

Archie's face goes as red as his hair at the memory. He really didn't mean to set Betty's oven mitts on fire. Or hurt himself. He's not even sure how it all happened.

"Obviously I didn't mean from me."

"Ronnie isn't that much help either."

While Veronica is always eager to lend a hand, her cooking skills are about as good as Archie's. But at least she's a bit less dangerous. Besides, after turning down the invitation to the trivia night, Veronica decided to go out for drinks with some of her classmates, eager to share her stories from Paris with someone new.

"No, I meant you should've asked Jughead," Archie says.

"Jughead? Wh- Why would I ask Jughead?" she stutters, cursing herself for how a simple mention of her secret boyfriend makes her lose her cool.

"He told me," Archie replies simply, too preoccupied with a dirty spot on his guitar to notice Betty's reaction.

"What?" Betty's eyes go wide. Surely he wouldn't tell Archie about their little secret without consulting her first, would he? Or at least he'd warn her that their mutual best friend found out about it, right?

"Yeah, he made us a late lunch today and it was delicious. He told me you helped him learn to cook a bit more," Archie explains with a shrug of his shoulder. "I guess I should thank you. Takeout can only sustain us for so long."

"Oh, yeah, right. I did." Betty smiles, breathing a sigh of relief. She hates withholding her relationship with Jughead from Archie and wants to be the one to tell him once the time is right. "I thought that someone with such a bottomless stomach should know how to cook more than just three basic meals." She shrugs. This, at least, is not a lie.

"Now his personality is the only thing standing in the way of him getting a girlfriend." Archie snickers.

"That's not very nice," Betty berates him, though she knows there's no ill will behind Archie's words and he's just repeating something that Jughead himself has said many times. "I don't think his personality is the problem," she says, biting the inside of her cheek.

"That's what I've been telling him. He just needs a little bit of time to warm up to people. Maybe start as friends."

"Totally." Betty nods, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible.

"So do you think that maybe you and Jughead..." Archie trails off and Betty's eyes go wide at his suggestion. "I mean, he's single. You're single..." he adds as if that's a reason enough.

"And so are millions of other people. In New York alone. Would you try to set me up with all of them too?"

She's used to constantly being bugged about dating from Veronica, but Archie? She wonders whether his girlfriend put him up to it. But why would he try to set her up with Jughead of all people? Are they being less obvious with their sneaking around than they thought? Do their friends know and are just trying to get them to fess up? A number of questions flood Betty's mind all at once, but she has no time to think about them as Archie speaks up again.

"No, but... Jughead is a really nice guy, you know?"

"I know."

Betty smiles, turning her face away from Archie, hoping he doesn't notice. There's that pang of guilt again. Veronica is a born businesswoman. She knows the power of information and how important it is to reveal it at the right time. Betty's sure she'll understand. But Archie... Archie doesn't have a dishonest bone in his body. He's her oldest friend, her brother. So she feels bad for lying to him.

"So just... think about it," Archie says.

* * *

"Maybe I didn't think this through as much as I should have" Veronica groans as she laces up her ugly bowling shoes. When googling for the best double date ideas that could still pass as activities for just friends, almost all the websites suggested bowling, and she didn't think twice about what it would mean for her outfit choice.

"Be glad they managed to find adult ones that are small enough for you. You could have ended up in kid shoes with Velcro straps that have hair stuck in them." Jughead chuckles as he puts on his own shoes. He's not as offended by the faux-leather as Veronica is, and instead enjoys the fact that for once she managed to drag them to a place that makes her more uncomfortable than him.

"Ewww." She scrunches up her face in disgust at Jughead's comment.

"Be nice," Betty whispers as she nudges him with her elbow, but even she can't hide the amused smirk on her face.

"Everyone ready?" Archie asks as he finishes the knot on his shoes and they all nod, heading out of the changing room, when Veronica stops Betty in the doorway.

"I love your scarf, B, but are you sure you want to keep it on for the game?" Veronica asks, pointing to the big cotton scarf, wrapped around Betty's neck.

"I uh…" Betty's fingers fidget with the end of the scarf nervously, knowing that if she takes it off Veronica will have questions that are harder to answer than her choice of accessories. "I was feeling a bit feverish. I think I might be coming down with something," she lies, feigning a cough and tightening her scarf a bit more.

"Oh, no, B, you should've said something. We could've done something inside of our apartment instead," Veronica says, looking worried as she stretches her arm to feel Betty's forehead. "It feels alright. Not hot at all."

"Oh, I guess the medicine I took worked then." Betty lets out a nervous giggle.

"Are you sure, honey? We can still just go back home. You shouldn't exert yourself if you're unwell."

"I'm okay, Ronnie, I promise. It's just my throat. I'll keep my scarf, get something warm to drink and it will be alright." Betty gives her friend a reassuring smile, not wanting to ruin their whole evening with her lie.

"Okay then," Veronica says reluctantly. "But I'll keep an eye on you because I know Betty Cooper and she always puts the needs of others above her own."

"Ronnie's right." Archie nods in agreement. "When I broke my arm in middle school Betty refused to let me carry my books even though I had one perfectly good arm. So she walked to every class with me so she could carry them for me. When my mom found out, she was pissed I let her do it. But she doesn't know how stubborn Betty can be."

"I did threaten to stop talking to you if you refused to let me help you," Betty admits sheepishly as she remembers the incident Archie is talking about. Her back hurt from lugging his books around with her, but she refused to let her injured best friend do it on his own. "But I just have a cold, so can we please ignore it and get to the game?"

"Okay." Archie raises his hands in surrender, knowing that trying to change her mind would be pointless. "Let's get to it," he says and links his arm with Veronica, ushering her toward the bowling lanes before she can protest.

"Just for the record, I like it when you're stubborn. And it _is_ a nice scarf," Jughead whispers with a grin and Betty shoots him a glare.

They've only managed to sneak away from their friends once in the past few days. Last night Betty claimed the trash needed to be taken out, even though it was still half empty, while Jughead claimed he really couldn't survive another minute without a hot dog from the stand down the street. Sure, he also got the hot dog in the end, but not before ravishing her against the side of their building. After two days of separation he may have tried to mark his territory a bit too hard, leaving her with a purple bruise on her neck.

"So I've been thinking we could play in two teams," Veronica announces as they reach their booth by the lanes.

"No offense Ronnie, but I don't think you stand a chance against me and Archie," Jughead says. Archie raises his hand for a fist bump, but before Jughead has a chance to react, Veronica wraps her arm around Archie's, pulling him to her side.

"I know. That's why I'll be on a team with Archie and you'll be with Betty," she announces with a grin, clearly proud of her idea. "We can even have team names. We'll be team Varchie and you'll be... Bughead."

Jughead rolls his eyes but doesn't protest. He knows that if Veronica already assigned them team names, however terrible they are, there's no use putting up a fight. Betty and Archie both just shrug their shoulders which, Veronica takes as an agreement to a question she didn't really bother to ask. She claps her hands with excitement before walking toward the bowling alley employee who's already waiting, ready to set up their game.

"I didn't know you were good at bowling," Betty says in awe as Jughead manages to hit nine pins on his first throw.

"There is a lot you don't know about me," he smirks over his shoulder before throwing the ball again and hitting the remaining pin with surprising precision. It's been a while since he last bowled and he was worried about being a bit rusty, but as it turns out, it's just like riding a bike.

"Is there?" Betty cocks her eyebrow at him.

"Well, okay, probably not a lot," he admits sheepishly. "But one of my well-guarded secrets is that I'm really good at bowling." After moving to Toledo halfway through sophomore year of high school, Jughead found himself a part time job at a bowling alley. It was smaller and even smellier than this one, but even though it didn't hold any particularly happy memories, being here makes him feel at home. Ironically so, as Toledo never felt like home to him. But that's why it didn't take much convincing from Veronica for him to agree to come. It's also why Jughead Jones, someone who became a master of fake doctor's notes just to avoid PE, has a surprising love for this particular sport.

"Well, it's not gonna be a secret much longer when we win." Betty grins as she approaches the bowling balls, picking a hot pink one.

"You seem very confident. I like that." Jughead smirks back at her.

"You're not the only one who has some secret bowling skills," Betty announces proudly, taking her stand at the lane and throwing the ball without much thought. "No, no, no!" she yells as the bowling ball makes its way straight to the gutter. This has never happened to her before and the horrified look on her face says as much.

"I'm sorry to tell you, Betts, but I think you're supposed to hit the pins." Jughead laughs, but puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Shut up! This is serious business." She crosses her arms over her chest, twisting her lips into a pout. "We can't let team Varchie win. They'll look like the better couple."

"But they don't even know we're a couple," he says, slightly confused.

"I don't see how that's relevant," she fires back. He doesn't dare oppose her.

"It was just your first try. You'll get better at it." He gives her shoulder a little squeeze in encouragement.

"I just don't get it." She lets out a frustrated sigh and if the pins could fall down just from how hard she's glaring at them, she would have hit a strike. "I know it's been like ten years since the last time I played, but I couldn't have forgotten how, could I? My sister and I used to go bowling for our birthdays when we were little. I was always amazing. _Always_."

"Did you by any chance have the bumpers up?" Jughead asks with a raised eyebrow and laugh threatening to spill from his throat.

"I..." Betty trails off when the realization hits her. "Shit!" she swears, and this time Jughead can't keep his chuckle inside.

"Don't worry, Betts. We can still turn things around," he says, trying to appear confident.

"C'mon, guys, don't stall just because you're losing," Archie calls out from behind them.

"How are we losing when you haven't even had your go?" Jughead narrows his eyes at him in confusion, but turns back to Betty before Archie has a chance to answer.

"Can you show me how to do it?" she asks, trapping her lower lip between her teeth as she eyes the bowling balls, unsure which one to pick. After her dreadful first throw and the realization that she maybe never had any bowling skill to begin with, she's feeling a lot less confident, but still equally dedicated to win.

"Sure." Jughead gives her a small smile and weighs a few of the bowling balls in his hand before handing her a bright green one. "I think this one will do," he says and positions himself behind her, instructing her on how to stand. "Are you pretending to not know how to bowl just to get me to touch you?" Jughead whispers in her ear, his hand sliding across her arm to put it in the correct position.

"Why would I use such cheap tricks?" Betty cocks her eyebrow at him over her shoulder. "If I wanted you to touch me I could just ask."

His breath hitches at that. It's still a little impossible for him to believe that he's in a relationship with Betty and not just pining for her from a distance. That he can touch her, kiss her, without the fear of rejection.

"Jug?" the sound of her voice brings him back to reality and he realizes he spent the last few seconds daydreaming.

"I'm just… assessing the situation," he lies and feels his face heat up, but Betty is too focused on the game to notice. Quickly, he gives her a few instructions on where to aim and when to release to ball before taking a step back and letting her try.

Betty focuses her eyes on the track ahead of her, and this time when she throws her ball, it successfully makes it to the end of the lane, hitting six of the pins.

"How about that, you stupid pins? Next time I'll knock you all down and win this game!" she yells at the remaining four pins with newly found enthusiasm, making Jughead laugh.

He's assumed Betty has a competitive streak ever since the day he suggested they do a game night to Archie. With fear in his eyes the redhead warned him to never play Pictionary with Betty.

"It's not my fault I couldn't guess the word 'landscape' from her drawing. There was no need to yell at me about it for ten minutes," Archie muttered to himself. Jughead, figuring it was a sensitive topic, decided to never bring it up again. But while his best friend seems to be slightly terrified of competitive Betty, Jughead finds her very attractive.

"You know, it's super hot when you get all competitive," he tells her quietly as they walk back to their booth, their friends and opponents already replacing them at the lane.

"I can get a bit carried away sometimes," Betty admits with a blush as she remembers the time she brought Archie to tears during a game of Pictionary. But really, how hard could it be to guess the word 'landscape'? She never had any problem correctly guessing Archie's poorly drawn objects.

"So I've heard," Jughead replies with a chuckle and leans back in his seat as they quietly watch their friends bicker at the track.

"Do you know how many people had their disgusting fingers in there? I'm not putting my freshly manicured hand in there!" Veronica stomps her foot and Archie rubs his face in frustration before he tries to help her figure out how to best throw the ball without having to put her fingers in the holes.

"I have a feeling this game won't be too hard to win." Jughead grins and leans back in his seat when Veronica finally finds a way to throw her ball, just to have it land in the gutter.

"I wouldn't celebrate too soon. Veronica can get pretty inventive when she wants," Betty says and takes a sip of her drink. She feels Jughead's eyes on her as she wraps her lips around the straw, and his sharp breath when she swirls it around with her tongue makes her grin.

"Aren't you?" Jughead cocks an eyebrow at her teasingly.

"You tell me." Betty looks up at him, her lower lip caught between her teeth, eyes glistening with mischief as the hand she innocently placed on his knee just seconds ago inches upward.

"I…" the words get lost in his throat as her palm presses against his thigh. Betty seems to be in an especially flirty mood today and he wants nothing more than to play along. However, he doesn't want his body to get over excited with their friends just mere feet away. Something that seems impossible when Betty looks at him like _that_. "I think… I think you can get anything you put your mind to," he stutters and she flashes him a bright smile.

"You're up, guys." Archie's voice startles them and Betty quickly pulls her hand away before their friends can get close enough to notice.

They look up at the scoreboard, both of their jaws dropping a little as they see the stats in bold blue color. Team Bughead – 16, Team Varchie – 14

"C'mon, Coop, if you wanna win you need to up your game," Jughead says with a grin and Betty squares her shoulders in determination.

"We're gonna crush you. Just watch," she tells her two best friends and follows Jughead back towards the lanes, even more set on winning than before.

* * *

"If you hit eight they have no shot at winning," Jughead says as he quickly does the math in his head. Somehow, despite Veronica's poor attempts, the score between the two teams was more or less equal most of the game, with Betty and Jughead only getting ahead in the last two rounds. "You can do this, Betts."

Betty nods and after a few seconds of adjusting her position, she throws the ball. After her dreadful first attempt, a few tips from Jughead and an unhealthy dose of competitiveness, she's been doing surprisingly well, usually able to hit majority of the pins.

Betty and Jughead both intently watch the ball roll toward the pins as if in slow motion. But they're not in a movie, so it only takes a few short seconds for the bright green bowling ball, which is now Betty's favorite, to arrive to the end of the lane and hit nine pins.

"Oh my god! I did it!" Betty exclaims, the scoreboard now showing team Bughead a full twenty-two points ahead of team Varchie. "I really did it," she repeats in disbelief as a huge grin spreads across her face. As her initial overconfidence died down after her first unsuccessful attempt, she started to worry her team might not win as easily as she hoped. Now, however, she feels like she's on top of the world.

"You did it!" Jughead says with a matching grin, and the next thing she knows her feet are off the ground as his arms wrap around her and he lifts her up, pulling her into a tight hug.

"You're amazing Betty," he murmurs into her neck and she laughs softly against his chest.

He slowly sets her back on the ground and his hands linger on her hips for a few more seconds. He really, _really_ wants to kiss her right now, and by the way she's staring at his lips he knows she's thinking the same.

"Juggie…" she breathes, her eyes moving back to his, wondering how to express her happiness without completely revealing their relationship to their friends. For a second she wonders whether the hiding is even worth it.

Before she has a chance to decide, the moment is ruined by the sound of Archie's dissatisfied booing. When they turn toward their friends, Veronica is telling him something in a hushed tone, accompanied by what can only be called a death glare.

While Betty, buzzed from the victory, is ready to play another round, the rest of them vote against it, deciding it's time for food. The bowling alley, while small, provides a good variety of greasy food, some of which has Veronica scrunching up her nose in disgust, but eventually they all find something to either celebrate the victory or comfort themselves with.

They chat animatedly and Archie starts telling them a story from the youth group concert that Betty brought him to when Jughead nudges her with his elbow, pushing his basket of fries in front of her. He knows that if she's going to listen to Archie's story one more time, she'll need some comfort food. The little gesture doesn't go unnoticed by Veronica as Betty smiles and takes a few of the fries, popping them into her mouth, while Jughead's eyes hang on her lips for a few seconds too long for someone who is supposedly just her friend.

"Betty, can you accompany me to the ladies' room?" Veronica asks once Archie finishes his story and before he gets the chance to start another, equally long-winded one.

"Sure." Betty nods, knowing that Veronica isn't really asking. The guys exchange a confused look that men always get when they don't understand the point of girls going to the bathroom in groups.

* * *

"Sooo," Veronica drawls as she runs her fingers through her hair, locking her eyes with Betty's in the mirror. "You and Jughead are looking very chummy tonight."

"What?" Betty's eyes go wide and she hopes she can mask her panic by acting surprised. "I don't know what you're talking about," she adds for good measure, wondering whether she's only making herself appear more suspicious. She's pretty sure Veronica can sniff out lies miles away.

"Oh c'mon, B. It's obvious." Veronica rolls her eyes, but smiles.

"I really don't..." she tries to protest, but Veronica raises her hand as a sign that she's not finished.

"You're making it pretty obvious. But you don't need to hide it from me. So you have a secret crush on Jughead. And so what?" She shrugs and pulls out a lipstick out of her purse. "While he's not my type, he's objectively good looking. And he's a good guy."

"I don't..." This time Betty stops herself. _Is that what Ronnie thinks? _She wonders whether making her best friend believe that would take her off the scent of her real secret. "It's Jughead," Betty says finally as if that alone is a reason enough.

"So? I know we've had our fair share of conflicts but you guys? You always have each other's back. And he seems to adore you." Veronica uncaps the lipstick and carefully starts applying it to her lips.

"No he doesn't." Betty shakes her head and feels her cheeks growing warm. Of course she knows that Jughead likes her. Probably more than likes her. But adore? That sounds like a strong word. She hasn't done anything to deserve his adoration, has she?

"He offered you his fries. I don't think he's capable of showing his feelings any better than that," Veronica scoffs, making a kissy face in the mirror before putting the lipstick back to her purse.

"Don't be silly, Veronica. Jughead and I are friends. He was just being polite." Betty tries to brush it off, though she knows that sharing food is not something Jughead does easily. She may need to berate him about it later.

"Okay, whatever helps you sleep at night. But mark my words, he likes you. So if that's what you're worried about, you don't have to be. Just... please don't break his heart." Veronica jabs her perfectly manicured finger into Betty's chest and Betty has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from smiling. "I really don't need to hear him mope about it for months."

"You don't need to worry," Betty says. It's the first completely honest sentence coming out of her mouth since entering the bathroom.

* * *

After they return to their booth, Veronica falls into easy chatter with the guys, who are trying to rate her group date ideas from best to worst. They're currently unable to decide whether the visit to the water park where a man died and the whole place had to be evacuated was worse than the time they went to the zoo and Archie got kicked by a kangaroo and ended up in the ER.

"What about that underground concert though?" Archie asks.

"Eight out of ten for the music, two out of ten for the concert turning into a cult meeting," Jughead muses.

Betty only half listens to them as her mind is still preoccupied by what Veronica said to her in the bathroom. She wonders whether she and Jughead have been a bit more obvious with their feelings for each other than they thought.

"You okay, B?" Veronica asks when she notices Betty has been uncharacteristically quiet.

"Yeah." Betty shakes her head, as if to clear her thoughts. "Just thinking. How about the time we went to Veronica's classmate's dinner party and it was all vegan food?"

"Oh, yes, the betrayal." Jughead scrunches up his face at the memory. "Veronica has some weird friends."

"You mean like you?" Veronica says with a raise of her eyebrow and Jughead just shrugs. It's been long since he embraced his weirdness. It is hardly an insult for him.

"Now that we're done playing can I finally take these terrible shoes off?" Veronica asks all of a sudden, scratching her ankle where the shoe meets her skin. "I think I'm having an allergic reaction to the poor quality faux-leather."

"It's probably just from the spray they use to disinfect the shoes. You know, if they ever do that," Jughead teases, earning himself a kick under the table from Betty and another tortured whine from Veronica.

"Archiekins, will you come with me to change back into my shoes?" She bats her eyelashes at him and he practically bolts out of his seat.

"Can you order us some sodas while you're there? And maybe some onion rings? And take a look whether they have any good desserts. You are paying for all of this, right? Since Betty and I are the winners after all." Jughead asks with a smirk and Veronica rolls her eyes.

"Yes, we're paying. Anything else you'd like to order?" She crosses her arms and cocks her eyebrow, as if daring him to ask for more.

"Nope, I'm good," he replies with an uncharacteristically wide grin. "What about you, Betts?"

He asks and Betty shakes her head, but he can tell without her having to respond that she's uneasy about his interaction with Veronica.

"I'm just teasing," he says, taking Betty's hand into his. "It's not every day that Veronica finds herself in a situation that she can't adjust to immediately. After all, that's exactly what she does every time she forces me to go to some fancy wine tasting or a yacht auction."

"The yacht auction was a terrible idea," Betty admits with a giggle. "I just don't want there to be any tension between my best friend and my boyfriend."

_Boyfriend. _As cliché as it is, Jughead must admit the word sounds like music to his ears. Sure, it's not the first time he's been someone's boyfriend, but it might be the first time he wears the title with such pride.

"I promise I'll behave. But I can't suddenly be too nice to her or else she may get suspicious."

"Yeah, about that…" Betty trails off, trying to give him a scornful look but failing when he laces his fingers with hers and gives her that little smile that always makes her chest contract.

"What is it?"

"Ronnie seems to be watching us a bit too closely and she now thinks you adore me," she says with a little roll of her eyes, suggesting she thinks her best friends is exaggerating.

"Am I that obvious?" Jughead raises his eyebrows with a laugh. "I may have been overestimating my poker face."

"So that's a yes?" Betty asks, unable to keep the hint of surprise from her voice.

"Of course it's a yes," he says, sounding almost offended. "I must be doing something wrong if you haven't noticed it yourself."

"No, Jug." She squeezes his hand under the table a little tighter. The last thing she wants him to think is that he's not doing enough to show her he cares. "You've been so wonderful to me. I guess I just... didn't think I deserve it. Adoration."

"Oh, Betts." He shakes his head in amusement, running his thumb across the back of her hand. "I so much more than adore you. I..." he manages to stop himself before the words have a chance to tumble out of his mouth. It's something he's been thinking about a lot recently. He's had a couple of girlfriends in his life, but nothing too serious. Definitely not serious enough to make him even think of those words.

With Betty everything is different, more intense. And while it terrifies him a little, it also fills him with excitement. But how is he supposed to know if she feels the same? What if it's too soon? Is there even such a thing as too soon when it comes to love? More and more questions keep popping up in his head and he's unable to answer any of them. The only thing he does know is that a stinky bowling alley is not the ideal place to tell his girlfriend that he loves her for the first time.

"What is it, Jug?" Betty asks with a hint of concern. It's not unlike Jughead to grow quiet and get lost in his mind, but this time she feels like there is something bothering him. Like he has something to say.

He shakes his head lightly, chasing the thoughts away. "I'm just… glad to be here."

"Me too." Betty beams up at him and presses a quick kiss to his lips. "Thank you."

He wants to ask what for, but before he has a chance they see their friends approaching and Betty squeezes his knee below the table and pulls her hand away.

After polishing off the food Veronica and Archie brought back, the four of them split a cab back to their apartment building. Jughead sits in the front, and although he brags to Archie about the added legroom, he'd much rather be the one with his knees pressed to the back of a seat if it meant getting to put his arm around his girlfriend.


	6. Chapter 6

"I feel like I'm fifteen and back in Riverdale again," Betty says with a giggle as her eyes dart around her, trying to take everything in. She takes a deep breath and a wide smile spreads across her face. The combined smell of popcorn, cotton candy and beer feels strangely enticing, reminding her of all the good times she spent at fairs back in Riverdale.

"That's supposed to be a good feeling?" Jughead mumbles with his mouth full.

Betty wonders when he managed to buy a hot dog, let alone eat a half of it, but she brushes the thought off along with his grumpy comment.

"Arch, do you remember that time we tried to sample food from each stand? There must've been like twenty," Betty says.

"I remember getting on the Thunderbolt and throwing up afterward." He screws up his face as he remembers the day. They have plenty of great memories from the Riverdale fair, but that's certainly not one of them. "You called me Pukey Andrews for a week."

"I did." Betty giggles as more memories rush to the forefront of her mind. Growing up in Riverdale wasn't always fun, but whenever she went to the fair with her best friends, everything seemed better. Even if just for one afternoon.

"You were upset because you were worried no girls would want to date you because of that."

"Well they didn't!" He exclaims with a pout and crosses his arms over his chest.

"I think it's an adorable nickname," Veronica says, squeezing her boyfriend's arm in comfort. "And I totally would've dated you despite it."

"You're the best, Ronnie, have I told you that?" he asks, and his frown quickly turns into a wide smile.

"Hmmm… Not in the last ten minutes." She grins, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer to her.

"Oh, then I better make it up to you." He smiles back as he presses a soft kiss to her lips, then another and another until they both seem to forget they're still outside, oblivious to the horrified looks that a group of elderly ladies passing by are giving them.

"Now I'll be the one to throw up," Jughead mutters, rolling his eyes in exaggeration. After all, it's not the first time his friends invited him somewhere, just to randomly start making out and forget all about him. Thankfully, Betty is usually right there with him, making everything better. And today is no exception.

"I think they're cute," Betty chirps and nudges him with her elbow. "Not as cute as us," she adds in a whisper when she's sure their friends are still too preoccupied with each other's lips. Jughead gives her a tiny smirk in return.

"Hard to beat that," he says and shoves the rest of the hot dog into his mouth while Betty gives him her brightest smile. "So, what are we doing first?" Jughead mumbles with his mouth still full when he notices Archie and Veronica finally pulled apart.

"I know just the thing for you." Betty clasps her hands in delight and marches forward, determined to make this the best trip to the fair ever.

They start off by sampling the pies from a baking contest, then move on to their own competition in bumper cars, which Betty wins easily, followed by watching a dog show and then some more food sampling. And while Jughead is enjoying himself as it is, his friends soon start craving some more action packed activities. Despite his dread, it's time for rides.

* * *

"The view is amazing, don't you think?" Betty exclaims, turning around in her seat on the ferris wheel, trying to take full advantage of the view. They decided to take a ride just as the sun was about to set, and now the whole fair is bathed in soft sunlight, the pink tint giving it a dream-like feel.

However, what Betty sees as a dream, Jughead perceives as a nightmare. He grips the edge of his seat, trying to keep his eyes fixated on the basket in front of them, his face going paler with every unexpected shake or sway of their own cart. "Yeah, it is," he replies quickly, hoping Betty can't hear his voice tremble. However, he's underestimating her abilities if he thinks she doesn't notice his distinct change in behavior.

"You're not scared of heights, are you?" Betty asks. She berates herself for not even considering that Jughead may not feel as excited to get high in the air as she does.

Jughead shakes his head but gulps visibly as he happens to peek on the ground beneath them, quickly closing his eyes.

"Juggie," she whispers as she takes his face in her hands, gently stroking his cheek with her thumb. She noticed him nervously tapping his foot before they got on the ride, but assumed it was just the usual jitters that most people experience. "Why did you agree to this?"

He slowly opens his eyes, this time careful to not look at the ground that' still too far below them. Instead, he tries to focus on the tiny freckles covering Betty's nose, a reminder of the summer weekends they spent having picnics in the park, sipping coffee on terraces or just walking the busy streets of New York City hand in hand. Were it not for those tiny dots of proof, he'd think it was all just a beautiful dream.

"You seemed excited," he answers honestly, even though he knows it makes him look like the biggest sap. But maybe he is. The moment he saw the way Betty's face lit up when she looked at the ferris wheel, he knew there was no way he'd let her get on alone. Fear be damned.

She lets out a small chuckle before her lips spread into a wide grin. "I was excited about taking the ride with you, silly." She lightly stabs him in the chest with her finger, careful not to move too much as to not make the cart sway any more than necessary. "I thought it would be romantic."

"Oh," he breaths and casts his eyes down in embarrassment, still being careful to not look outside. "I guess me being such a chicken shit kinda ruins that, doesn't it?"

"Not really." Betty shakes her head, the smile not leaving her face. She feels bad for unknowingly pushing Jughead into doing something he fears, and she's determined to prove to him they can still enjoy the ride regardless. "I'll just need to distract you."

"Distr..." he doesn't even get to finish the word when she presses her mouth against his, slowly at first, but soon enough the tip of her tongue skims to seam of his lips, begging entry. He happily obliges. With their friends still completely unaware of their relationship, they haven't been able to do anything more than trade a few quick pecks here and there in public. Craving the feelings of their bodies pressed against each other, Jughead's hands move to Betty's hips, pulling her closer to him.

"Better now?" Betty asks with a giggle when they pull apart, gasping for air.

"Much." Jughead nods, his pupils blown wide.

Betty nestles herself in the crook of his arm, interlacing their fingers while her other hand settles on his knee. They sit in silence for a moment as Betty watches the world outside of their cart and Jughead focuses on the way she gently rubs her thumb over his leg, trying to provide him with comfort. It's such a small gesture, yet its implication makes his chest feel tight again. "Betty I..." he trails off, taking a shaky breath.

"What is it?" she asks, turning her head back toward him, her eyes wide and soft, like despite all the hustle and bustle around them, he's the only thing she sees.

Jughead's tongue darts out to wet his lips, buying himself an extra second as he glances at their intertwined fingers. Since that moment in the bowling alley just two days ago when he almost let the words slip out, he's been thinking about his feelings for Betty more and more. It's only been two months since they decided they wanted to be more than friends, less than a week since he officially called her his girlfriend for the first time. Thinking about love so soon should make him feel crazy, or maybe scared, but instead it just feels… right. He looks back at Betty and she's still staring at him with a question in her eyes, but her lips are curled into a soft smile and that's all he needs to see to reaffirm himself that he's not crazy. He's just in love. With that thought he takes a deep breath when suddenly the cart sways again and he grips her hand so tight he worries he may hurt her.

"Just... kiss me again," he croaks out.

It's not the words he wanted to say, but he realizes it doesn't feel appropriate to profess his love to Betty when there is cold sweat running down his back and his stomach is churning.

"Anytime."

Betty's smile widens as she reaches for his face again and pulls him towards her, closing the gap between them completely. As her hand slips underneath his beanie and into his hair, all his fears fade away.

* * *

"No way. I'm not eating that!" Veronica exclaims with a shake of her head.

"C'mon, Veronica. It's the last one," Jughead whines, pushing a paper plate toward her.

They've spent the last hour locating and tasting the weirdest fair food they could find and subsequently trying to keep it in their stomachs. Now that Veronica is the only one with one more item left on her plate and everyone is eagerly waiting for her to try it, she decides to put up a fight.

"I made it through the deep-fried beer and the chocolate covered corn dog, but I'm not putting a whole stick of deep-fried butter in my mouth. Absolutely not."

Veronica crosses her arms to underline her point. She never agreed to this idea to begin with. She thought it would be stupid to eat a bunch of disgusting food before going on more crazy rides, but since both Archie and Betty for some reason supported Jughead's idea, here she is.

"The rest of us did," Archie mutters to himself, and Veronica shoots him a death glare. "Which is how we know that Ronnie shouldn't be forced to do this," he quickly adds.

"I thought Veronica Lodge wouldn't be stopped by anything, but if a little bit of butter is what it takes…" Jughead trails off, and by the change in her eyes he knows he got her.

While he knows Betty may berate him for trying to upset her best friend again, it's too good of an opportunity for him to pass up.

Veronica grabs the wooden stick with determination and shoves the deep-fried butter in her mouth. It takes less than five seconds before her face twists in disgusts and she quickly reaches for the paper plate again, spitting out the offensive food. Jughead wishes he had his camera ready so he could take a video of Veronica being unladylike.

"Oh my god!" she exclaims, taking a napkin and trying to swipe the remaining butter off her tongue. "This is the worst thing I've ever tasted."

In desperation, she grabs a half empty bottle of beer from Archie, trying to wash down the taste of butter, but the look on her face reveals it was futile.

"How did that make it worse?"

Betty and Archie are both biting their lips in an attempt not to laugh, but Jughead doesn't try to hide his amusement as hearty laugh leaves his throat.

"This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time," he says finally, wiping tears from his face but still keeping a wide grin.

"Is this payback for that time I made you try caviar and you almost threw up?" Veronica asks with furrowed brows.

Jughead is glad looks can't kill.

"No, but maybe it should've been. That shit was disgusting."

He shudders at the memory of Veronica's birthday party, when she insisted he try some caviar. His gut was telling him not to do it, but much like Veronica, he was easily provoked into tasting it when she insulted his gourmet choices.

"It was thousand dollar caviar, I'm sorry that your sugar-and-fat-destroyed taste buds couldn't appreciate it," she fires back.

"Let's not fight." Betty raises her hands, trying to stop them before their bickering goes any further. "We don't like it and Jughead does. So if he wants his arteries clogged by the age of twenty-five, it's his decision."

"Thank you." Jughead smiles at her fondly. "You always know how to appreciate me."

"That was not a compliment. I'm still judging you."

"I'll still take it." He grins and Betty shakes her head, briefly wondering how she managed to fall for a guy with the eating habits of a preschooler.

"I need one more drink to get rid of this disgusting taste in my mouth," Veronica announces with another glare aimed at Jughead. He knows she won't let this go anytime soon. "Anyone coming with me?"

Before she even finishes her question Archie stands up and they both walk back toward the food and drink stands, leaving Betty and Jughead alone.

"I hated the caviar too, but deep-fried butter? Really?"

Betty scrunches her face in disgust. She and Jughead may be in perfect sync on many things, but even she can't understand some of his food choices.

"I like what I like," Jughead replies with a shrug. "But if I had to choose between deep-fried butter and you, I'd pick you."

"How romantic." She rolls her eyes, but Jughead can see a small smile forming on her face. With a quick glance toward the crowd of people to make sure their friends are out of sight, he presses his lips to hers for a brief moment. When he opens his eyes again, her small smile has turned into a wide grin.

* * *

"What's next?" Veronica asks once they leave the food and drinks area behind them, trying to forget all about their last activity.

"How about…" Betty looks around, as if trying to decide what ride they should go on next, even though she knows exactly what she's going to suggest. "A tilt-a-whirl."

"Tilt-a-whirl?" Archie scrunches up his nose, clearly not happy with Betty's choice. "But that one doesn't even go high. It just spins and shit. That's not scary."

"So? We just ate a bunch of gross food. I think all the spinning will be more than enough. I don't really need to be upside down." Betty crosses her arms, not willing to back down. "You don't wanna be called Pukey Andrews again, do you?"

"But…" Archie tries to protest, but Veronica stops him.

"Let Betty have this one and you can choose the next ride. How does that sound?"

"Like you're their mom," Jughead mutters under his breath, which earns him an elbow between the ribs from Betty, though he can see her smirking.

"Fine." Archie agrees with a sigh. "But I'm riding with Ronnie. I'm not risking Jughead puking on me after all he ate."

"That's fine with me. I have some disinfectant wipes and mouth wash in case anything happens." Betty gives him a cheeky grin, links Jughead's arm with hers and marches towards the ride in victory.

* * *

"Tilt-a-whirl? Really? You love the crazy rides," Jughead says once they're seated in a shark shaped car, the ride almost ready to start.

"Well maybe I love…" _You more_, she almost adds before stopping herself.

"...Staying closer to the ground sometimes," she finishes instead.

It's been a few days since she was first hit with the realization that her feelings for Jughead were deepening, and while she hasn't given much thought to how and when she may tell him, she's pretty sure it doesn't include a fast spinning amusement ride with a high chance of puking.

"Oh, do you?" Jughead probes teasingly.

He knows exactly why she chose it. After finding out about his secret fear of heights at the ferris wheel, she must've figured out that he wouldn't want to put himself through that again. The tilt-a-whirl is the only ride at the fair except for the kid ones that doesn't go crazy high. If he wasn't in love with her before, he definitely would be now.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She gives him her sweetest smile and loops her arm through his as the ride starts moving. At first, the cars just move in a big circle, but then they start spinning as well and Betty tightens her grip on Jughead.

"You okay there?" she asks.

"Yeah." He nods with a smile. "Thank you. You didn't have to… I could've just waited for you guys."

"Nonsense." Betty shakes her head. "You deserve to have fun too, Jug."

"I have fun whenever you're around."

"Me too."

She beams at him with complete honesty. While Archie and Veronica are her best friends and she loves them dearly, their interests vary a lot. Jughead gets her like nobody else and there's never a dull moment when she's with him.

"You have fun when you're around too?" he teases, and just as he feels Betty's hands moving around to his torso, ready to tickle him for trying to be a smartass, he presses his lips against hers in a swift kiss.

"Veronica and Archie could see us," Betty murmurs, but doesn't pull away.

It's been getting increasingly more difficult to hide their relationship from their friends, her hands itching to touch him whenever he's around. At the same time, it makes their every interaction ten times hotter, something neither of them thought could even be possible.

"So?" Jughead cocks his eyebrow, a mischievous grin dancing on his lips.

"This ride needs a bit more thrill," he says, and before Betty has a chance to reply, he kisses her again. Secret be damned.

* * *

After a ride on a Power Surge that Jughead happily opts out off in favor of getting some funnel cake, his friends stumble toward him with varying expressions on their faces.

"This was the best ride ever!" Betty exclaims in delight.

Her ponytail is slightly askew, tendrils of hair escaping around her face, but her green eyes are shining as adrenaline pumps through her veins.

"I don't know, Betty, I'm not feeling too well," Veronica says with her palm pressed to her stomach and her other arm wrapped around Archie's, who also looks slightly dazed. Looking at the two of them, Jughead is more than happy that he choose to pass on the crazy ride. The ferris wheel was more than enough for him, but at least Betty was able to take his mind of the danger with her many kisses.

"Oh, no. Do you wanna sit down? Get something to drink?" Betty asks, scanning the area for the closest bench.

Perhaps a ride on the Power Surge after eating so much fried food wasn't the best idea after all. The moment Archie saw it though, there was no talking him out of it. Looking at his green tinted face now, Betty is sure he regrets that.

"No." Veronica shakes her head. "I think my body is telling me I've had enough of all of this for today," she says, flailing her arms around. "It'd be better to just call it a night."

"Oh." Betty's face visibly falls at Veronica's words. She's not ready for the fun to end, but seeing as her best friend would never end an evening of fun early, she assumes she must feel really sick and it would be unfair to try to persuade her to stay.

"I'll call us an Uber then," Betty says, trying not to sound disappointed as she pulls out her phone from her tiny handbag.

"No, no, no!" Veronica protests, stopping her before she can even unlock her phone. "You guys stay here and I'll head back home with Archiekins."

"Are you sure?" Betty asks with concern.

"Absolutely." Veronica nods. "Don't worry, B. I'm gonna be fine. I just need to eat something that's not full of sugar or deep fried and preferably stay in an upright position."

Archie snickers at her last words, but Veronica quickly shuts him up with an elbow between ribs.

Betty chews on her bottom lip for a few seconds, feeling like it's not right to stay behind and continue to have fun while her friend heads home not feeling well, but the last ride put her on such a high she's not ready to go home yet.

"You will not hear me say this often so enjoy the moment, but I think Veronica is right," Jughead says and the rest of them raise their eyebrows in surprise. "Besides, there are still plenty of food stands I haven't had a chance to look at. I can't go home now."

"Always so selfless, aren't you?" Veronica grins at him and he shrugs.

They take a few more minutes to say goodbye, and the moment their friends are out of earshot, Jughead leans towards Betty.

"They totally ditched us to have sex, right?"

"Juggie!" Betty exclaims, smacking his arm for suggesting that her two best friends would lie to them like that. "No I'm sure they…"

She trails off, thinking back on all the other times their friends came up with ridiculously bad excuses to get some alone time. They almost got her this time.

"Oh god, you're right."

Her eyebrows knot in an exaggerated frown, but her irritation quickly fades away as she remembers that their friends ditching them means she can finally get some time alone with her boyfriend. Or as alone as they can be in public.

"So, now that we're Varchieless," Jughead cringes at his use of the nickname Veronica made up for her and Archie and wonders whether he's spending too much time with her, "what are we gonna do next?"

Betty pretends to think for a moment, even though she knows exactly what she wants to see next. Something that Veronica and Archie probably wouldn't find thrilling enough or worth their time, but that Jughead may appreciate.

"I know this is probably gonna sound really lame but… There's an ice cream magic show happening near the food stands and I really wanna see it."

Jughead cocks his eyebrow in surprise but grins.

"All you had to say was ice cream and I'd be in," he says, and since their friends are finally nowhere near them, he intertwines his fingers with hers and gives her hand a tight squeeze.

"Let's go."

* * *

"I admit it was cooler than I would've expected, but I don't think making ice cream disappear is such a big deal. I'm doing that right now."

Jughead takes a big bite of his ice cream and grins.

"See? Easy."

"I still can't believe you got bacon ice cream."

Betty scrunches her nose, wondering whether the food vendors at the fair had some sort of competition between them about who could come up with the most repulsive food.

"It sounds disgusting."

"It sounds perfect to me." He shrugs.

While his friends have not been happy with the assortment of weird food he forced them try, he's thoroughly enjoyed both the food and their mortified faces.

"Wanna try it?" he offers, even though he knows what Betty's response will be.

"Absolutely not." She shakes her head, but Jughead is already extending his hand toward her, swiping a bit of the ice cream over the corner of her mouth and onto her cheek.

"Oops."

"Did you do that on purpose?"

She shoots him a playful glare because even though she knows he did, she can't be mad at him when he looks at her like _that_.

"No?" Jughead tries to look innocent but can't stop a mischievous smile from forming on his face.

"I can fix it though," he says and presses his lips to the corner of her mouth, his tongue darting out to lick the ice cream off.

"Unbelievable."

Betty shakes her head in amusement as she wipes the remnants of the ice cream from her face with the back of her hand.

"Also, gross. Don't lick food off of me."

"Oh, is it gross?" Jughead's grin grows even wider. "Because you loved that cotton candy flavored gel you put all over my…" She stops him with a hand over his mouth, her face bright red.

He finds it incredibly cute how the woman with foul mouth in the bedroom can't bring up the topic of sex outside of it without blushing profusely.

"That's different," she whispers, as if worried that if she speaks at a normal volume everyone will suddenly be interested in their conversation.

Despite her slightly exhibitionist tendencies, it's not something she wants. So when Jughead opens his mouth to speak again, she quickly extends her hand to swipe her own ice cream over his lips before covering them with hers.

"Now we're even," she says as she pulls away, but Jughead quickly wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her closer.

"If you wanna kiss me, you can just do it. You don't need to make excuses for it."

He gives her a cocky grin and she rolls her eyes, letting him know his overused lines aren't that clever. He knows that, of course, but after a few hours of having to pretend in front of their friends, he can't help the flirtatious lines, however horrible they are, from slipping out.

"How presumptuous of you to think I wanna kiss you," she says, but can't help herself as her eyes slide to his lips.

In the past, they were her favorite part of his body because they produced his witty remarks. Let the conversation between them flow. Now, the memory of them on various parts of her body keeps her awake during the lonely nights when he's not next to her.

"Maybe it's just me who wants to kiss you then."

His voice is low as his gaze flicks between her eyes and her lips, wondering whether he could still taste the vanilla ice cream on them. Just as he leans down to find, out they hear the sound of someone coughing a bit too close to them, but tune it out, their lips melting into a kiss. But as the obnoxious throat clearing becomes louder the second time around, they quickly pull apart, exchanging a confused look before turning their heads toward the sound. They see a group of three elderly ladies with almost identical scowls staring at them, muttering something about today's youth and their lack of manners before turning around in an almost synchronized movement and walking away.

"That was…" Betty trails off with a huff, glaring at the three ladies who just interrupted their moment.

"Eerie?" Jughead finishes for her with a raised eyebrow.

"What? No."

Betty shakes her head and laughs, but then the frown quickly reappears on her face.

"I wanted to say rude. They don't get to judge me and tell me when and where I can kiss my boyfriend. I'm an adult woman and this is a free country."

She all but stomps her foot, but all Jughead can focus on is the adorable way her brows scrunch up when she's mad. Especially since the reason she's so upset is because their kissing was interrupted.

"I like it when you call me your boyfriend," he whispers, resting his forehead against hers.

"Well, you are. The best one," Betty says with a timid smile, and Jughead's ears go red beneath his beanie.

"Now just kiss me again and don't let anyone interrupt us."

He obeys, not wasting a second before his lips are back on hers, the melting ice cream in their hands quickly forgotten. And for once, Jughead doesn't mind wasting the food.

* * *

"So, what are you gonna call him?" Betty asks nodding toward the stuffed dog tucked under Jughead's arm, a prize she won for him in a game of ring toss. It was his idea to try to win her something, fulfilling some teenage fantasy she didn't know he had, but hand-eye coordination has never been his strong suit.

"Hot Dog," Jughead replies without a second of hesitation.

"Hot Dog?" Betty raises her eyebrows, wondering whether she could've misheard him.

"Yeah, I like hot dogs," he says as if it's the most obvious explanation.

"But you like burgers more. Why don't you call him burger?"

"Burger? Betty, that's not a name for a dog," he says wish faux-offense. _What kind of name is Burger?_

Betty laughs and Jughead pulls her closer to him, dropping a quick kiss to the crown of her head.

"Thank you, Betty."

"Oh, please. It was nothing." She waves her hand nonchalantly. "An average eight year old could win that."

It's Jughead's turn to laugh now as he shakes his head.

"I don't mean for the dog. But everything. I had the best day."

"I had the best day, too." She beams up at him, giving his hand a tight squeeze. "Maybe one day we can go back to Riverdale and visit the fair there. The way it should've been. Together."

"Maybe we can." Jughead smiles, and for the first time in forever, the idea of going back there doesn't fill him with dread. Everything is better with Betty by his side.


	7. Chapter 7

"B, are you even listening?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Betty jerks her head towards her best friend, realizing that she hasn't heard a single word in the last couple of minutes.

Veronica lets out a dramatic sigh. "You've been glued to your phone since this morning. And I don't wanna be a hypocrite but… What's so important that you keep staring at it?"

Betty feels a pang of guilt at Veronica's words. After all, her best friend invited her to spend a few days at a penthouse getting fancy massages, spa treatments, shopping and eating the best food in the city. The least she could do is to pay attention to her. But while she's trying to enjoy everything that Veronica is offering, she also misses her boyfriend. It's the first time since they started dating that they haven't seen each other in over twenty-four hours and the constant stream of texts between them is making her feel a bit better.

"I'm really sorry, Ronnie." Betty blushes, embarrassed that she let herself be so invested in her phone that even Veronica found it too much. "It's just… Polly took a trip with the kids and she's been telling me all about it and I've been waiting for her to post some photos. But it can wait."

She immediately feels bad for lying to her friend, but tries to console herself because it's not that far from the truth. Polly did take the twins on a trip and was telling her all about it. But that was two days ago. She quickly locks her phone and puts it into the pocket of her fluffy white robe. "I'm all yours now." Betty flashes an apologetic smile and Veronica beams back at her.

"So as I was saying," Veronica leans back in her chair as her personal beautician starts applying a clay facemask to her face and continues, "I think we need to end our summer break with a bang and organize a huge party."

"Ronnie, we're in college. With the new semester starting there will be at least three parties going on every week. In our building alone. Can't we enjoy at least one quiet weekend before it all starts again?" Betty asks, even though she already knows the answer.

"Yeah, but those are frat parties. With warm disgusting beer and people throwing up in potted plants. Our party would have class. With expensive wine and canapés."

Betty's not sure that expensive alcohol or a fancier name for finger food can make people behave like adults, but she doesn't tell Veronica that. Once her best friend starts planning something, it's already too late to stop her. As Veronica continues talking about all the ideas she has for the party, Betty is glad for the facemask drying on her face and the slices of cucumber on her eyes allowing her to get away with some well-timed nods and vague sounds of approval as opposed to full responses.

"You should wear that dress you got yesterday. I can guarantee that when Jughead sees you in it, he won't be able to keep his dick in his pants much longer," Veronica says all of a sudden, not bothering to create a seamless transition between the party decorations and her best friend's sex life.

"Veronica!" Betty exclaims, the facemask pulling painfully at her skin as her jaw drops, the cucumber slices falling into her lap.

"I'm sorry." Veronica raises her hands in apology, but the smirk on her face says she's not sorry at all. "What I meant to say is, that he will no longer be able to resist your beauty and declare his courtship."

"We're not talking about this again." Betty shakes her head in refusal, knowing that if she lets Veronica pry, she won't be able to lie to her much longer.

"Okay, okay. I'm just saying that if you're finally ready to make a move on hipster James Dean, I'm your woman. The boy won't know what hit him."

Betty hums in agreement, popping the cucumber into her mouth and leaning back in her seat as Veronica starts talking about how her therapist tells her she gets too invested in other people's lives.

"Says the guy I pay three hundreds an hour to tell me what to do," she scoffs.

And with that, the discussion about Jughead is forgotten.

* * *

"Jug, are you even paying attention to…" Archie trails off because it's already too late as Jughead's character takes a hit, losing the last of his health points and crumbling to the ground.

"What?" Jughead looks up at the screen only as the vibrating game controller in his lap notifies him of his character's death. _Shit, _he thinks as he realizes that he completely forgot they were in the middle of a battle when he got a text message from Betty that stole all his attention. "Sorry, I was…"

"Distracted. Yeah. I noticed." Archie chuckles, never fully capable of being upset with his best friend. Ever since childhood Jughead has been predisposed to getting lost in his own mind and ignoring his surroundings. And despite all the other changes in both of their lives, this hasn't changed. "What's on your phone that you keep looking at?" he asks as he notices Jughead still clutching his phone instead of the game controller.

"Nothing just… There is an AMA on reddit with the inventor of autocorrect so I've been trying to follow that." Jughead is surprised how easily the lie comes to him. But best lies are always rooted in truth, and there was an AMA like that going on that he closely followed just a day ago.

Archie narrows his eyes, wondering what Jughead means, but then he just shakes his head. He has long since given up on trying to understand his best friend's hobbies and learned to appreciate the differences between them instead. "Well now that the game is over," he motions to the writing on the screen, "how about some beer?"

"Sounds great. Let me grab it." Jughead tosses his phone on the couch and hurries to the fridge, a small way to apologize to Archie for ignoring him earlier and ruining their game.

"I don't understand why Veronica insisted on keeping it women only. We're not five. I don't have cooties anymore. And she herself claimed I need a pedicure," Archie says, propping his feet on the coffee table and wiggling his toes.

"I don't even know which of those sentences to tackle first." Jughead chuckles as he returns to the couch with two beers and a bag of chips. "But I thought you'd be glad to not have to meet up with her mom."

"Yeah, meeting her family still scares me a little, but I need to face my fears, you know? And it's only scary because it matters to me. Which is a good thing."

"Yeah, I guess," Jughead mumbles as he shoves a fistful of chips to his mouth while wondering when Archie's thoughts got so profound. Jughead's hand is deep the chip bag when his phone buzzes again and Archie's eyes dart to the screen before he can snatch it away.

"Betty?" Archie raises his eyebrow in question when he sees her name on the screen. "What are you and Betty texting about?

"Nothing... Just this book we've both read recently," he says, knowing that Archie won't show any further interest in that particular topic of conversation. Jughead assumes he may not have read a book since _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_. Do music students even have textbooks?

"You guys are such nerds." Archie rolls his eyes and Jughead just shrugs, hoping that means Archie is won't ask any further questions. Still, he shoves a few more chips into his mouth so that in case Archie does decide to probe, he can pretend to choke.

"You'd be really good for each other," Archie says matter-of-factly. Jughead doesn't need to pretend as the tiny piece of crisp potato goes down the wrong pipe, resulting in a few second of violent coughing. "Geez, man, it's not that crazy." Archie laughs as he slaps Jughead on the back in an attempt to help him.

"It kinda is," Jughead mutters, taking a swig of beer and giving himself a moment to think about his next reply. While he and Betty have been together for a while now, it still definitely feels crazy. The best kind of crazy.

"Okay, maybe it's a little crazy." Archie admits with a shrug. "But think about it. You're both smart and like the same nerdy books and nerdy movies. She's funny and seems to understand your humor, which you gotta admit, is quite rare. She likes to cook and bake and you like to eat. And while I'll always see her as my sister, she is objectively really pretty and…"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, I get it." Jughead raises his hands, trying to stop Archie, who seems to have a whole list of reasons why he and Betty are soulmates memorized. Which is frankly a little concerning.

"Do you? Does that mean you're gonna ask her out?" Archie's eyes light up with hope, adding to Jughead's list of concerns about his best friend.

"With each passing day you're beginning to sound more and more like Veronica," Jughead tries to deflect. "I much preferred when you weren't invested in my love life."

"You have no love life!" Archie exclaims, throwing his hand in the air, a gesture he most definitely learned from his girlfriend. "Which is what we're trying to change."

"We?"

"I," Archie corrects himself quickly, but Jughead cocks his eyebrow in disbelief. He's pretty sure Archie didn't get the idea of him and Betty dating on his own, not after years of knowing them both and not saying a word. But he lets it slide because watching Archie trying to list the reasons why he and Betty are the perfect match is quite entertaining and only makes him a little nervous that he may let the truth slip out.

"I don't know, Arch. I think Betty may be too good for me," Jughead muses out loud.

"Dude, it's Betty. She's too good for everyone. But out of all the losers Veronica has tried to set her up with, you're the best."

"Gee, thanks for the pep talk." Jughead rolls his eyes and throws one of the chips at Archie, who tries to catch it in his mouth but fails, almost falling off the couch in the process.

"You're welcome." Archie grins at him as he recovers and pops the chip in his mouth.

Jughead groans and shakes his head. "Veronica is rubbing off on you in all the worst ways."

"It's what being in love does to you. You'll find out when you and Betty get your shit together." With another groan and roll of his eyes Jughead decides to put an end to the conversation. His best friend doesn't protest, feeling like his job for the day is done. "Now give me those chips and focus on the game this time. I want to finally beat this level."

* * *

It's just past 2 a.m., and despite the silk sheets and the most comfortable mattress Betty has ever laid on, sleep eludes her. She thinks that maybe she shouldn't have refused that last jalapeño margarita after all, but once the alcohol started working and Veronica and her mother began what seemed to be an emotional debate in Spanish, Betty decided it was time for her to retreat to her room and give them some space.

The main reason Veronica invited her to come and spend a few days with her and her mother at the Lodge's penthouse was to serve as some sort of buffer between her and Hermione. Betty's still confused about what her best friend expected her to do, but after two days of tension between the mother and daughter, everything seemed to shift suddenly. Maybe it wasn't Betty they needed, but the large amount of alcohol they decided to consume in one night.

Betty turns around on her side, hoping that changing her position for the tenth time in the past hour will magically get her to fall asleep, when her phone buzzes twice from the nightstand. She squints at the bright light and before her vision is able to clear enough to read anything, the phone buzzes one more time.

**Jughead: **Are you up?

**Jughead: **I'm outside. Can you come down?

**Jughead: **This is probably stupid. Sorry if I woke you up.

A wide grin spreads across her face as she types, _Be there in five_. and jumps out of the bed, no longer annoyed with the insomnia keeping her up late.

She doesn't bother changing from her sleep clothes – yoga pants and an old t-shirt – and quickly puts on her shoes. She exits her room as quietly as possible, sneaking down the hallway in near-silence. It reminds her of high school, except she's not escaping her childhood bedroom through the window to meet a boy to make out with him in his car while her parents sleep soundly. She's in her early twenties, sneaking out of her best friend's penthouse to meet up with the man she's been secretly dating for two months to… Well, she doesn't know why he came all the way to Manhattan in the middle of the night, but she hopes the make out part of her teenage experience still holds true.

When she comes downstairs the doorman is sleeping in his chair. After a second of worry about the building not being secure enough and a quick thought to waking him up, she assumes it's for the best if nobody sees her leaving. Except there are security cameras, of course, but she strongly doubts Veronica will be looking through those.

All her thoughts about security and secrets quickly dissolve the moment she steps outside and sees Jughead waiting for her, hands in his pockets and hair surprisingly uncovered, tracing patterns on the sidewalk with his foot. As if sensing her presence he looks up the moment she gets closer and before he can say a word, Betty's arms are wrapped around his neck, her lips on his in a bruising kiss.

"God, I've missed you," Jughead mumbles, pulling apart only enough for them to be able to look at each other, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"It's been two days." Betty giggles. Even under the faint light she sees his face turn pink. With her fingers lightly brushing his warm cheek she admits, "I've missed you too."

"Your hair… it's different," he says as he examines her face.

"Yeah, Ronnie had a hairstylist come over."

She touches her hair self-consciously. She had let it grow a few inches since starting college, but other than that she hasn't made any bigger changes to it in years. No point in doing that when she still wears a ponytail on a daily basis, even though it's no longer as tight as it used to be. Now, however, after the visit from Veronica's stylist, her blonde locks are falling across her shoulders in soft layers, and according to her best friend, it's "accentuating her face shape and bringing out her cheekbones." Betty herself is not convinced a haircut has such power, but she doesn't dare question Veronica's words.

"It looks really nice," Jughead says simply, brushing a tendril of her hair behind her ear with a smile.

This time, it's her turn to blush. "Thank you," she whispers and as Jughead takes her hand into his and they start walking away from the Pembrooke. She's not sure if he has a destination in mind, but she doesn't particularly care either way. "Veronica is making sure all three of us are being pampered and relaxing all the time."

"How is spending time with the Lodge women? It doesn't sound relaxing to me _at all_," Jughead says sincerely, squeezing Betty's hand for emphasis.

"Ronnie and her mom keep fighting but in some sort of strange way where they're overly nice to each other and keep buying each other expensive gifts."

"Ugh, rich people." He grunts and rolls his eyes, making Betty giggle.

"Honestly, it's so weird." She laughs. "But tonight they got drunk on jalapeño margaritas and I think they solved whatever problem they had. Their conversation turned very Spanish very quickly, but they spent at least half an hour singing before they went to bed, so I think they're good."

"First of all, jalapeño margaritas? That sounds gross. Especially for someone who judges my food choices constantly." He scoffs and shakes his head, but tries to remember this detail for the next time Veronica tries to criticize his meal or snack.

"It is pretty gross." Betty nods, scrunching her nose in disgust.

"Secondly, does that mean you get to come home now that mommy and daughter Lodge made up?" he asks, trying to pass it off as a joke and not like he feels like he can't go another day without seeing Betty. Which is only partially true. He can, but doesn't want to.

"They're not holding me hostage, you know?" Betty laughs, but knows exactly what he means. It was Veronica's idea that they'd be spending the nights at the penthouse instead of in their own apartment, and while it was definitely more luxurious and comfortable, Betty felt strangely removed from reality, wondering if that's how people feel when they allow themselves to go on vacations.

"I just… I don't wanna be all clingy or codependent, but there is only so much uninterrupted Archie time I can handle," he says, rubbing the back of his neck while Betty gives his other hand a reassuring squeeze.

"How was it? Did you catch up on a whole summer's worth of bro time?" she asks with a giggle. Right before they left Archie wouldn't stop talking about all the stuff he wanted to do with Jughead after three months of not seeing each other.

"Actually, yes. Archie is attempting to have some very intense bro time with me."

Betty smirks at his words. "What does that involve?" She's always wondered how Archie and Jughead managed to be so close despite all the obvious differences between them. But somehow they just click, and she's genuinely happy for both of them.

"Oh, just the typical. Beer, videogames, girl talk." Jughead shrugs, trying to recollect everything that happened in the past two days. "He also tried to convince me to go to some football game with him, but I was able to shut that down."

"Girl talk?" Betty raises her eyebrows in surprise. While during their teenage years girls seemed to be Archie's biggest interest, ever since meeting Veronica the only "girl talk" he took part in was talking about all the things he loves about her.

"Yeah, he was... pretty weird about it, but he was trying to talk you up to me," Jughead says with a scoff. As if he needed Archie to see how amazing Betty is.

"Was he? Because he tried to do the same to me just last week. And actually, so has Veronica."

"Do you think they're..."

"Trying to get us together? I wouldn't put it past Veronica. She's let up on the online dating thing fairly easily."

Sure, it's only been a little over a week, but aside from the day Veronica came back from Paris and wouldn't keep bugging Betty about online dating, she hasn't mentioned it again. Instead, she seemed to take up the assumption that Betty has a crush on Jughead and has been not-too-subtly trying to get her to admit it.

"They're in for quite a surprise then." Jughead says, pulling Betty closer and dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "Are you cold?" he asks when he notices the tiny goosebumps on Betty's arms, cursing himself for not realizing sooner that she's wearing nothing but a t-shirt.

"Just a..." she doesn't even get to finish her sentence before he's taking off his flannel and holding it out to her. She slips her arms into the sleeves with ease. Only as she wraps the warm fabric around her body does she realize just how cold she was before. "Thank you," she whispers. He replies with a soft smile, interlacing their fingers once again.

The sight of her in his flannel makes his heart speed up and he feels a little silly for it. She's worn his shirts countless times. She's worn nothing _but_ his shirt. Yet it's making him just as speechless as he was the first time he took her clothes off. There is no need for words, though, when he pulls her closer, his lips finding hers with ease, a well practice motion by now. When they pull apart again, it's with a gasp and a glimmer in Betty's eyes as she grasps his hand tighter, dragging him to the nearest alleyway.

* * *

Less than ten minutes later Betty is pressed against a brick wall as they exchange slow, unhurried kisses, enjoying their limited time together. They know they probably won't get the same opportunity in the following few days. Their summer break is coming to an end, classes starting up again the following week, but they haven't yet figured out how and when they're going to break the news of their relationship to their friends. Right now though, it's the furthest thing on their minds as Betty's hand slips into Jughead's hair, relishing the silky feeling under her fingertips, glad he left his beanie at home in the hasty decision to come and meet her in the middle of the night.

While they're hidden in an alley at almost 3 a.m., it's still New York City and people are milling around, robbing them of privacy. It's a fact Betty finds highly exciting as his hips push against hers, making them both gasp. His fingers dig into her sides almost painfully as he presses her between the wall and his own body, wanting to feel as much of her as possible. Not knowing how long it will take before he gets to touch her like this again, he tries to memorize how it feels, store it in his brain for those lonely nights when he can't sleep.

"Jug…" she whispers when his lips leave hers. He shifts his focus to placing kisses along the column of her throat, the feeling almost making her lose track of her thoughts. However, she knows she can't get distracted now. Not when she has something she's dying to tell him, the words desperate to escape with each kiss they share.

"What is it, baby?" he mutters between the kisses, the term of endearment still slightly foreign on his tongue.

"I…" Her words dissolve to moans when his lips reach the spot behind her ear that always makes her knees buckle and she pushes him away ever so slightly, trying to gather her thoughts.

"What's wrong?" He looks up at her with a mix of confusion and concern, trying to figure out what's going on.

"I love you."

The words leave her throat in a hurry, since she's worried that if she waits a second longer, she'll lose the courage to say them.

"I love you, Jughead," she repeats, this time more slowly, making sure that he knows she means it. That her declaration is not just a byproduct of her arousal.

He stares at her dumbfounded for a few seconds before letting out a relieved laugh. Until then, he hadn't realized the weight he had been carrying with him since he recognized how deep his feelings for Betty were. The fear that he was rushing, the worries that she didn't feel the same, all evaporated with the three simple words leaving her lips.

Jughead quickly realizes he hasn't said a word in response and has been staring at her with an idiotic grin instead.

"I love you too, Betty," he says quickly, and his smile widens even more. The words have never felt truer. "I've been trying to tell you for a few days now but the opportunity never felt right and..."

"And now I sprang it on you in an alley that smells like pee and next to a puddle that's probably blood since it hasn't rained in days?" Betty finishes for him, suddenly realizing just how imperfect the timing of her confession was.

"Yeah, but…" Jughead chuckles before taking Betty's hands in his and pressing a light kiss to her knuckles. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

She beams up at him, and just as he leans over to kiss her, she stops him again. "We should probably still move away from the blood puddle," she whispers, and he groans in frustration but nods anyway, wrapping his arm around her and setting off back in the direction of Pembrooke.

The walk back seems to pass much quicker, both of them feeling like they're walking on clouds, huddled as closely as possible, exchanging small kisses and dreamy smiles. Once they reach their destination, Betty reluctantly sheds Jughead's shirt. With a long hug and a few more soft kisses, they bid each other goodbye. They know it's silly to act like they're going to be thousands of miles apart when in fact it's just a short subway ride that separates them, but when in love, any distance seems greater than it actually is. And they're very much in love.

This time, when Betty returns to her bed at Pembrooke, she feels lighter even though her mind is still reeling and replaying the moments of her impromptu rendezvous with Jughead. The way he held her hand, the feeling of his lips on hers making time slow down around them, how his face lit up when she told him she loved him and how good it felt when he said it back. She hugs her pillow close to her chest and buries her face in it to muffle her giddy squeal. She feels a little silly for acting like this. She's not a thirteen-year-old girl who just had her first kiss in the schoolyard and she and Jughead have been dating for over two months now, even if they only labelled it recently. Still, Betty feels butterflies in her stomach every time she thinks about him.

She basks in her happiness for a while longer until she feels her phone buzz beside her like she knew it would.

**Jughead: **Got back safe. Goodnight. Love you.

She quickly sends him a heart emoji and with a wide smile on her face finally drifts off to sleep.

In a very different neighborhood and a very different bed, Jughead falls asleep with the same kind of smile on his face, his own butterflies keeping him company.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for all the reviews you've left me. This is the last chapter and I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

"Oh, god!" Betty gasps as the hand she has buried in Jughead's dark locks twists harder, bringing him closer to her, asking for more.

He hums in response and the vibration almost makes her fly off the bed, but he pins her to the mattress with his free hand to prevent her from accidentally knocking him out. Something he had to learn the hard way.

The look he gives her is supposed to be a warning—after all, he told her not to move—but instead she takes it as a challenge. She wants to see what he'll do when she disobeys him. She's always had a rebellious streak, after all. But then he flicks his tongue just the right way and all thoughts of disobedience leave her mind. She'll comply with his every whim if he just keeps doing _that_.

Jughead never let anyone touch his hair, especially not the way Betty is now. But the first time Betty ran her fingers through his locks, he thought he was going to die. Or at least lose control too quickly and embarrass himself during their very first make out. Now the only thing that keeps him from doing just that is trying to focus on the burning of his scalp rather than Betty's moans that grow deeper with each sweep of his tongue.

It's not long before the tingling that starts in her toes quickly spreads over her whole body, telling her she's close to orgasming. As a wave of pleasure washes over her, her vision going white and her ears ringing, she doesn't hear the front door open or the clicking of heels moving towards her bedroom until it's too late.

"B, you're not gonna believe what just hap-" Veronica marches into Betty's room without so much as a thought to knocking before it's too late. "Oh my god!" she shrieks, immediately covering her eyes and turning away. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were... having solo time. I'm just gonna... I'm gonna go to my room and put earphones in so you can... finish this. Text me when it's safe to come out."

Before Betty can gather her thoughts and say a single word, Veronica closes the door again and hurries off to her room, the slamming of her bedroom door reverberating through the suddenly-very-quiet apartment.

Betty and Jughead stare at each other wordlessly for a few moments, both of their faces a mix of horror, surprise and confusion.

"Did she just…" Jughead whispers, even though he's sure Veronica can't hear him.

"Not notice you?" Betty says, lifting herself on her elbows and glancing around the room until her eyes fall on the huge basket of laundry perched at the foot of her bed—a result of her many trips to the laundry room for a secret rendezvous with Jughead.

She was just about to put the clothes away when he came over, knowing that Veronica left to run some errands and wasting no time before pinning her to the bed and ravishing her, the pile of laundry quickly forgotten.

At least until now when they were so rudely interrupted and the overflowing laundry basket seemed to have served as a perfect cover for Jughead who was kneeling at the side of Betty's bed.

"Given that she's not screaming at us and demanding we explain ourselves I assume she didn't," Betty muses, biting her lip. She's not sure if it's the ridiculousness of the situation or the orgasm-induced endorphins coursing through her body, but she wants to laugh her heart out.

"I kinda always expected her to find out like this."

"With your head between my legs?" She raises her eyebrow with a smirk and Jughead just shrugs his shoulders.

"Catching us in action," he says. "You, Betty, are insatiable."

Betty rolls her eyes and playfully shoves him with her foot, her face growing red. "I'm not."

"Yes, you are." Jughead smirks, grasping her foot with his hand and trailing little kisses from her ankle to her thigh. "But I love indulging you," he mutters against her skin and she throws her head back with a moan once his lips reach her still aching center.

"We shouldn't," Betty pants, and while her mind is telling her to stop, her body is asking for more. An eternal struggle. "Veronica is…"

"Blasting her eardrums off," Jughead cuts her off. "So you could finish this."

"But I already have." She's not sure why she's still protesting, especially as Jughead runs his fingers along her inner thighs, making her head spin once again.

"Since when is one enough?" He grins at her and Betty's already-red face turns a shade deeper. She may be a bit insatiable after all.

"Okay. One more. But make it quick."

Jughead cocks his eyebrow at her as if to say "Is that a challenge?" before he dives back in, hoping Veronica's noise cancelling headphones are good enough to block out Betty's screams.

* * *

"Knock, knock. Are you decent?" Veronica asks as she walks into Betty's room, covering her whole face with her hands.

"Ronnie, I texted you to come to my room. Why wouldn't I be decent?" Betty bites back a laugh.

"Just checking. As I always will from now on." She finally puts her hands down, revealing an apologetic expression. "Your privacy is important to me."

"Since when?" Betty almost asks, but quickly stops herself. Her best friend seems genuinely sorry and looks more embarrassed than Betty has ever seen her. She's not going to make fun of her now. "It's okay, V," she says instead. "I should've locked the door before…"

"No, no, no," Veronica cuts her off before she can finish the sentence. "I came home unexpectedly, I didn't knock, I invaded your privacy and for that I'm sorry."

Betty's not sure where all of this is coming from. She's just glad that by some miracle Veronica seems to have no clue about Jughead's presence in her room when she barged into it. Despite Jughead's expectations, Betty thinks it would be a terrible way to reveal their relationship. "It's okay," Betty says again, punctuating it with a small smile. "Now tell me what made you storm in here in such a rage in the first place."

"Oh, B, you're not gonna believe this." Veronica throws her arms in the air in frustration. "You remember Archie's idiotic gym buddy Reggie?"

Betty wonders whether it's a rhetorical question and Veronica's making a long pause just for dramatic effect or whether she expects her to answer. Because of course that Betty remembers Reggie. How could she not? "Of course I remember him. His drunk ass tried to boil an egg in our microwave and made the door blow off," she says finally, rolling her eyes. But Veronica seems to be distracted by something that caught her attention.

"What is this?" she asks, pointing towards the bright pink laundry basket on Betty's bed. Betty's just about to give her a confused look—even Veronica should know what laundry looks like—when her eyes fall on the pile of clothes. There at the very top sits a dark gray shirt unlike any other that Betty owns, and there is nobody who knows the contents of her closet better than her best friend.

"My… sleep shirt," Betty says, hoping that if she's nonchalant enough about it, Veronica may not be suspicious. "You know I'm not into that whole satin pajama set thing." She waves her hand towards her current outfit, consisting of her purple NYU t-shirt and baby blue shorts with cupcake pattern.

"Yeah, but is it really _your_ shirt? Because I don't remember you ever owning a man's t-shirt," Veronica says with a smirk. All of Betty's previous hope disappears. Thankfully it's not one of Jughead's typical S shirts. That would be harder to explain. Still, Veronica is wearing a wide grin as if she just exposed some deep dark secret. "Did Betty Cooper have a one-night stand? How scandalous." She clasps her hands in excitement and plops down on the bed next to Betty, a clear sign that she's expecting a story time.

"You had one night stands before Archie. With more than one person at a time, I might add." Betty tries to deflect, but for once Veronica has no interest in talking about herself.

"It's scandalous for you, not me." She rolls her eyes as if it's obvious. "And we're talking about you, so don't try to change the subject."

"I don't kiss and tell," she objects, despite knowing that Veronica won't give up and is probably already spinning a juicy story in her head.

"You have his shirt so there was clearly more than just kissing." She grins, but Betty shakes her head. "Oh, c'mon. It's not like I'm ever gonna meet this guy, right?"

"Right…" Betty bites her lip, thinking hard for a couple of seconds, considering whether she should share at least something with her best friend. Once she and Jughead reveal their relationship to their friends, it may become obvious to Veronica who she was talking about, but at the same time she's dying to finally tell someone about it. She's been having the time of her life with Jughead and a tiny part of her wants to brag about it. Even if she has to pretend he's a stranger she's only slept with once.

"C'mon. I don't need _all_ the details," Veronica prompts her and Betty knows that's a lie. Her best friend will most definitely try to get _all_ the details.

"Well…" Betty trails off, trying to think of something small to share that would hopefully quench Veronica's curiosity. The memory of Jughead's fingers dancing across her skin and his lips pressing to the most sensitive places of her body sets off a tingling sensation within her. He's been nothing if not the most attentive lover she's ever had and she tries to keep the wide grin from spreading across her face and spilling everything to Veronica right then and there.

Judging by Veronica's smirk, her attempt at poker face clearly failed. "That good, huh?" She teases, making Betty blush.

"Mind-blowing." She can't help herself and lets out a little giggle, feeling like a teenager whispering about her crush and wishing she had a friend like Veronica when she was that age.

"You go, girl! Get that D!" Veronica whoops excitedly.

"And we're done with this conversation."

"Too far?" Veronica asks and Betty's glare is an answer enough. "Well then, let me tell you all about how Reggie the asshole Mantle is single-handedly threatening my back-to-school party."

* * *

"Mmm I missed this," Jughead murmurs against the back of Betty's neck, his arms wrapping around her bare stomach.

"Having my naked body pressed against yours?" She teases, tilting her head back to brush her lips against his.

"Well, that as well, of course." He laughs. "But I meant us, being together inside our apartments without Archie or Veronica watching our every move."

"Yeah, that does feel nice," Betty says and rests her head against Jughead's shoulder. The lavender scent of the bubble bath and the feeling of her boyfriend's wet, warm body enveloping hers brings her an incredible sense of calm. It's moments like these when she wishes they'd already told their friends about their relationships so they could fully enjoy it. "Once Archie and Veronica know, it may be a bit intense for a while, but after that it will be great."

"Class starts next week. I guess it's almost time to tell them," Jughead ponders out loud as he interlocks his fingers with Betty's. They haven't decided when and how exactly they're going to break the news about the change in their relationship to their friends. They don't want to make a big deal out of it and just want their friends, Veronica in particular, to be busy enough with their own lives to leave theirs alone. But the longer they wait, the harder it seems.

"Actually, I've been thinking about this and I've come up with three possible scenarios on how to tell them," Betty announces. She's been thinking about it more and more in the past couple of days, trying to come up with different ways and opportunities to tell their friends as well as gage their possible reactions.

"You're adorable, Betts, but you're overthinking this." Jughead chuckles, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I thought we could just send them a text like 'BTW we're dating. Please don't make this weird' or something like that."

"Jughead!" She exclaims, slapping his arm playfully. "This is serious. We've all been friends for a while and when two friends fall in love it changes the dynamics of the group. They deserve a proper explanation and to be assured that even though we're together now, it doesn't have to change our friendship with them. You can't say that in a text."

"Babe, we're not parents about to tell their kids they're getting a divorce and trying to soften the blow with gifts, so I don't think…"

"Gifts!" Betty exclaims, not letting him finish. "Maybe we need to get them gifts. Archie always gives Ronnie a gift when he fucks up and it makes her much more forgiving. You're a genius, Juggie!"

She twists around to give him a proper kiss on the mouth and he doesn't try to explain to her that he doesn't actually want to give Archie and Veronica any gifts. Being called a genius by Betty Cooper is about the best thing that he could aspire for and he's not going to ruin it.

The bathtub is barely big enough to allow her to straddle him but she tries anyway and the guttural moan escaping his lips is stopped as she presses hers against his. Water splashes out of the tub and covers the bathroom floor, but neither of them cares as their tongues tangle together in a kiss so hot it would steam up the mirror if it wasn't already.

"Let's take this to bed," Betty whispers breathlessly as Jughead's lips press against her chest. He wholeheartedly agrees when they suddenly get rudely interrupted by the annoying buzzing of his phone.

With a groan he reaches toward the counter. After a few seconds of struggling to unlock the screen with his wet hands, he sees two messages waiting for him.

**Archie: On my way home. Want me to pick up pizza or Chinese?**

**Archie: Ronnie says we're having a movie night with her and Betty.**

For the first time ever he's disappointed at the prospect of food and movies.

* * *

After leaving Jughead's apartment Betty takes a walk around the block for good measure, telling herself it will make lying to Veronica about her whereabouts a bit easier. She got fully dressed up in her running gear before leaving for Jughead's and announced to her friend she was going for a little run around the neighborhood. Instead, she only went as far the apartment opposite theirs, conveniently planning her own workout at the same time as Archie's, who was at the gym on the other side of Brooklyn.

Always having been a terrible liar, Betty didn't think she could keep her relationship with Jughead secret for this long. But throughout the two weeks the little lies she's been telling—who she's texting, why she's taking out the trash when it's only half full at ten in the evening or who's giving her the best orgasm of her life—have become a little easier. It's not something she's particularly proud of or something she plans to continue, yet she feels a sense of accomplishment. Or perhaps Veronica just can't sniff out the truth as well as she makes everyone believe.

When Betty finally returns to their apartment, Veronica is sitting at the dining table, her spectacles perched on her nose, a sign she's in her "serious business" mode. The moment she spots Betty though, she puts her glasses down and gives her a broad smile that could only be described as triumphant.

"I found a way to salvage my party that will make Reggie Mantle cry," she announces by way of a greeting.

"Are you planning to kick him in the crotch again or…" Betty says. As her best friend shakes her head she slides into a chair opposite her, expecting her to lay out a long and complicated plan that may or may not include something illegal.

"That one I'm only saving for his sexist comments. Which I'm sure he still has plenty of." Veronica rolls her eyes. "I have something much better planned, but I'll need all your guys' help."

"All of us?" Betty quirks her eyebrow, not sure she wants to hear about the plan after all.

"You, Archiekins and Jughead, of course." Veronica clasps her hands together, her eyes sparking with something sinister for a moment when she seems to remember something and her smile turns from menacing to sweet again. "Speaking of which, we're having a movie night at their place today. Archie's bringing some food soon, so while I have no idea how you smell so wonderful after a run, I assume you wanna take a shower before we head over there, right?"

"Yeah… right." Betty jumps out of the chair immediately, hoping Veronica thinks she's eager to get into the shower and not because she wants to get away from her before she can not only smell the remains of the lavender bubble bath on her but also sex and lies. Maybe her senses are that good after all. "I'll be out in a minute," she says as she scrambles to her room.

"Don't worry, dear. I still need to look up something on the dark web before we go," Veronica calls after her, putting her glasses back on along with a sordid grin.

* * *

Half an hour later they all meet up at Archie and Jughead's place, a plethora of Chinese food spread across the coffee table and the couch that acts as an extra surface while they sit on the floor.

"Ronnie, can I talk to you in the bathroom for a second?" Archie asks just as they're about to sit down and dive into the food, making Jughead groan in frustration.

"If it's another back pimple you want me to get rid of I swear to God..." Veronica huffs, but follows him into the bathroom, her own stomach growling from hunger.

"It's not a back pimple," Archie whispers as he closes the door behind them.

"Then what is it? And why are we whispering?"

"I found something when I got home and I don't think you're gonna like it," he says, pulling out an empty bottle of lavender bubble bath from the trash can.

"I'm more of a Chanel No. 5 than lavender kind of gal, you're right. But…" The realization hits her suddenly, her jaw dropping in an unladylike fashion. "I can't believe this!" she exclaims, trying to keep her voice quiet so as to not alert their best friends.

"I know, right? Jughead has a girlfriend and didn't tell me about it? We've spent the last two weeks trying to set him up with Betty. No wonder it didn't work." He frowns, chucking the empty bottle back into the trash can.

"Oh, Archiekins." Veronica smiles at him fondly. "I think it worked just right."

* * *

When they return back to the living room a few minutes later, Betty and Jughead greet them with smiles that are too wide and too fake to not be hiding something.

"So, what do we have here?" Veronica asks as she sits down on the single throw pillow that Archie and Jughead own as she looks at all the food displayed in front of her.

"I got some orange chicken, two kinds of rice, egg rolls and fried wontons." Archie starts pointing at all the different foods as he plops down between Betty and Jughead. "I know those are your favorite, Betty so I got them for you."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you. Thanks, Arch." Betty beams at him as she takes one of the wontons, dips it in a sauce and throws it in her mouth. A satisfied moan that makes Jughead twitch in his seat leaves her lips and he quickly scrambles for something to fill his mouth with as well.

"Not as sweet as you," Archie mutters under his breath and both Betty and Jughead seem to inhale their food at the same time, coughing violently as they share a confused glance not completely unrelated to the food stuck in their throats.

"So um… Betty says you have a plan you want to discuss. Something to do with the douchebag Reggie?" Jughead quickly changes the topic, looking at Veronica expectantly.

"Yeah, I think I found something on him, but it's not making a lot of sense so I thought you guys could help me. But my plan can wait for now. How about we eat first?" she says and Jughead can't protest against that.

"I bet Betty can get it done," Archie says all of a sudden. "She's always been into these Nancy Drew detective books. I bet she can solve anything."

"Yeah, but that's just kids stuff, really." Betty shakes her head, looking sheepish. "If you want someone with some serious detective knowledge, Jug is the pro at that. He's read more crime novels than I can count."

"That's debatable, Betts. I may know a bit too much about hiding a dead body, but there is no mystery you couldn't solve." He flashes her a smile, but immediately gets interrupted by Archie again.

"Yeah, and you make this really cute face when you try to interrogate someone. Your eyes go wide and your nostrils flare but like… in a pretty way," Archie stammers, not meeting her eye and stuffing a piece of chicken into his mouth.

"Umm, thank you?" Betty narrows her eyes at him, more and more confused by his behavior with every word he says.

Jughead watches the strange interaction between his best friend and girlfriend when he realizes Veronica has been unusually quiet, her head hung low, slowly nibbling on an eggroll.

"It's true," Archie speaks up again once he swallows his food. "I remember you always used to carry around a magnifying glass and wear this bright pink jacket that wasn't inconspicuous at all. But pink has always been your color, hasn't it? It goes well with your hair. And your hair is always pretty, even when it's a bit frizzy like now." Betty touches her hair a little self-consciously and Archie's rambling is interrupted by Jughead's sharp elbow landing in between his ribs.

"What the hell, Jug?" Archie turns to his friend with an offended look, wrapping his arms around his torso to prevent further attacks on his ribs.

"Dude, seriously. Knock it down a peg," Jughead hisses, quietly enough just for Archie to hear but punctuates his words with an angry glare.

"What are you talking about?" Archie looks at his friend innocently, but the puppy dog eyes that usually make everyone forgive him for whatever stupid thing he's done don't work on Jughead this time.

"Veronica's right next to you. Can you really not control your fuckboy tendencies?"

"It's not… I wasn't…" Archie tries to defend himself, but he's interrupted by Veronica as she grabs his arm.

"Can we talk for a moment, Archie?" She says, not waiting for his answer before she drags him towards his bedroom.

* * *

"Well that was weird," Betty mutters when the door to Archie's bedroom slams shut.

"What's gotten into him? Just this morning he was strumming on his guitar, writing some new song about Veronica's raven hair. And now he's…" He throws his hand up in frustration, not sure how to best explain his friend's behavior. "It's like he's fifteen again and he just discovered how much girls like the football player and musician combo and he doesn't know where to put his dick first," he says finally.

"Please, can we not talk about Archie's dick now?" Betty scrunches her face, putting her egg roll down after experiencing a sudden loss of appetite. "Or ever?"

"Sorry," Jughead says and finishes the discarded piece of food for her in one big bite. Unlike Betty's, his appetite never wavers and he hopes the Chinese food can fuel his brain and help him figure out the mystery that is Archie Andrews.

"Archie would never... It doesn't make any sense." Betty shakes her head, gnawing at her lip in deep thought. She and Archie have been friends since they were in diapers. And yes, he was her first kiss when they were thirteen and she believed it when everyone in their year claimed they already had theirs and didn't want to be the only one who didn't. But after that mortifying experience they both agreed there would never, ever be anything romantic between them. It was not a hard promise to keep. Archie went through what they all lovingly called "his fuckboy phase" in high school—which Betty disapproved of—but ever since meeting Veronica he's been head over heels in love with her. It was as if all the other girls in the world ceased to exist. There is no way he'd just suddenly start flirting with his best friend, let alone in such an awkward way and in front of Veronica. There must be a reason for Archie's odd behavior. "Unless..." she trails off, the wheels in her head spinning, when a metaphorical light bulb goes off in her head.

"What?" Jughead looks at her in confusion, his own mind still trying to process what just happened in front of them, but not being able to make any sense of it and instead shoveling more food into his mouth.

"God, we're so stupid!" Betty exclaims in a whisper, her eyes flitting to Archie's bedroom door to make sure their best friends are still in there. "They're playing us. They know about us and they want us to confess."

"Oh…" Jughead says and feels a wave of relief wash over him. While Archie's strange attempt at flirting with Betty made no sense to him and Betty's face made her feelings about the situation pretty clear, it still feels good to know that his oldest friend wasn't seriously hitting on his girlfriend. "Well then I guess it's over, right? We've been meaning to tell them in the next few days anyway."

"No, no, no." Betty shakes her head. "They think they can play with us and make us feel uncomfortable? They think they're smarter than us? We can't let that happen."

"What do you wanna do then?" he asks, sensing Betty already has something on her mind.

"It's time we play them back."

* * *

"What was that, Archie?" Veronica whisper-yells at him once they're alone again.

"What? I was doing everything you asked me to," he says, knowing full well that he didn't succeed.

"I asked you to flirt with Betty. To use your beautifully sculpted face and charming personality," she says, running her finger along his jaw, but quickly shakes her head to clear her thoughts. Now is not the time to get lost in Archie's eyes. "But instead you just gave her some weird compliments. It wasn't believable at all."

"Well I told you that I can't do it. Betty is like my sister. It makes my skin crawl to think of her that way." Archie tries to defend himself, though he knows their plan wasn't going as expected and it may or may not be his fault. "And she would never believe it anyway. She knows how much I love you, Ronnie."

"Oh, Archiekins, I love you too." She gives him a sweet smile. "Even though you don't understand the art of manipulation at all. It's not about Betty believing you're hitting on her. It's about getting a rise out of Jughead."

"Well then it was working!" Archie exclaims, happy that whatever it was that he was attempting to do yielded some type of result. "He was starting to look pretty pissed. I thought he was gonna punch me!"

"He was." Veronica nods appreciatively. Archie's poor attempt at flirting did bring out a reaction in Jughead, even though not the kind she expected. "But as strange as that sounds, I think it was more about stopping your from hurting me."

"Ah, I should've known this wouldn't work," she continues, shaking her head, clearly disappointed in herself. "It was such an amateur move. And a bad one at that. But we can still fix it."

Archie wants to tell her to drop it. They could still just ask their friends straight to their face. Or wait until they decide to tell them. But as bad at mind games as he may be, he knows Veronica's scheming face and that when she has it on she can't be talked out of her plans. "Well what do you propose then?"

Veronica is quiet for a while, the gears in her head spinning as she walks around the room when she suddenly stops, giving Archie a mischievous smile. "It's time for plan B. And I think I know just the thing."

* * *

When they return to the living room the atmosphere is still tense and awkward, none of them saying anything for a while as they quietly return to their food. It's mostly cold now, but eating gives them something to do without having to speak and address the awkwardness caused by Archie's disastrous flirting attempts.

"I ran into Cheryl Blossom today and she was asking about you, Jughead," Veronica says when she can no longer stand the silence.

Jughead's eyes bulge out at the mention of Cheryl's name. He's seen her on campus once or twice since their disastrous date but managed to successfully avoid her each time. During their brief exchange she let him know that there was no lack of men, or women, in her life so he hoped she'd eventually forget all about him and he could move around the city freely and not have to worry about running into the redheaded she-devil. "She… she did?" he stammers eventually, not sure if he wants to know more or not.

"I don't know what you did to her to make her so thirsty for you, and I honestly don't wanna know, but she was pretty much begging me to set you up for another date." Veronica smirks.

"Oh, is she?" Betty interjects, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Jughead a pointed look.

"She must be thinking of a different Jughead then," he chokes out. "Nothing happened between us."

"Yeah, and she's still asking about you six months later because nothing happened. Right," Betty mutters, rolling her eyes.

"I've already told you. We didn't even kiss and I've been avoiding her ever since. There is nothing…"

"Do you have me for a complete idiot, Jones?" Betty yells suddenly, jumping up from her seat. "When did you last see her? And don't say you didn't or I swear to god I'm gonna…"

"I didn't. Betty, I swear," he pleads, reaching for her hand but she jerks it away.

"Don't' lie to me! And don't touch me! Who knows where those hands have been." She looks at him with as much disgust as she can muster.

"I'm not lying!"

"Guys," Veronica tries to interrupt them, but Betty raises her hand to stop her.

"Not now, Veronica. This is between me, Jughead and whatever skanks he's seeing on the side."

"But…" Veronica tries again, but this time Betty just gives her a stare that makes her take a step back. "What did we do?" she whispers to Archie and clutches his hand in hers as they watch their best friends glare at each other.

"Yeah? And what about that Sabrina chick from the coffee shop then? I know that little witch has been flirting with you for weeks. Free Scone Saturday is not a real thing!"

"Oh, you're one to talk. At least I don't have a profile on a dating website," he fires back.

"You know Veronica made it for me," she says defensively.

"You didn't seem to protest too hard."

"So? You can be keeping old hook ups as a backup and I can't keep my options open? So much for being equals," she scoffs.

"Ronnie, we need to do something," Archie whispers with urgency, his eyes anxiously flitting between Betty and Jughead.

"Guys…" Veronica tries to get their attention again, but her voice sounds uncharacteristically timid and her friends blatantly ignore her.

"And what about Ethel?" Betty continues in an accusing tone. "You've done nothing but support her obsession."

Jughead barely fights off a shudder as he remembers the girl from his internship who had been sneakily taking photos of him for a month before he found out. He didn't know how to deal with her but one talk with Betty seemed to have solved the problem and he's not sure he wants to know what went down between them. "She may be a little intense sometimes, but she actually listens to me!" he bites back.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You're a bad listener, Betty Cooper!"

Betty lets out an over-exaggerated gasp and crosses her arms. She's determined to shoot daggers at him as well as she possibly can, but the moment their eyes meet she can't help it. Laughter escapes from her throat as she watches Jughead struggle, his lips twitching with a smile.

A wordless exchange passes between them before their badly-concealed grins break through the facade. Jughead steps closer, wraps his arm around Betty and drops a kiss to her hair.

"You should see your faces right now," Betty says with a giggle, snuggling closer to her boyfriend.

"It's like you've seen a ghost." Jughead smirks.

"Oh my god! Did we enter some other dimension? Is Jughead smiling? And being... cute? Archiekins, pinch me."

"I don't understand." Archie finally speaks up. "You were fighting and I thought…"

"It was a joke, Arch," Betty explains. "We figured out you knew about our relationship and were trying to trick us into revealing it."

"So we thought we'd mess with you a little," Jughead finishes for her, pressing another kiss to her hair and silently blessing her genius mind.

"Elizabeth Ann Cooper!" Veronica exclaims, sounding so much like Alice it sends a shiver down Betty's spine. "Why would you hide this from us? How long has this been going on? How did it start? I need to know all the details."

Jughead's eyes go wide when he sees Veronica throw Betty a wink. Surely she doesn't mean _all _the details, right?

"Well…" Betty clasps her hands and Jughead knows she's practiced at least three different versions of conveying all the important information to their friends. "It started this summer while you and Archie were away. Juggie and I started spending a lot more time together and, well, as they say, the rest is history."

"Nice Archie-appropriate version, but girl, I need more than that," Veronica says, grabbing Betty by the arm and dragging her out of Jughead's embrace and to the other side of the room.

Betty throws Jughead a wide-eyed, slightly scared look over her shoulder and he mouths a silent "sorry" while still feeling glad it's not him whom Veronica decided to interrogate first.

"So… You and Betty," Archie starts, pulling Jughead out of his thoughts. Despite being about the same height, suddenly Jughead feels like his best friend is towering over him. While he wouldn't admit it to Betty, he's been lowkey scared about Archie's reaction to their relationship as Betty's best friend and de facto brother. "You two serious?"

It was mere days ago when he was grappling with his feeling and what they meant, but after saying it, after hearing Betty say it back, there is nothing he's ever been surer about. "Yeah, I love her."

"Does she know?" Jughead's dorky smile and a nod is answer enough. "That's amazing, bro." Archie claps Jughead on the shoulder a bit too enthusiastically, but he doesn't mind, relieved to see his friend smiling.

"It is." Jughead's smile grows even wider, his cheeks an adorable pink shade.

"Listen, Jug, I'm sorry about flirting with Betty. It was all Veronica's idea. I didn't want to do it, but she said it would make you fess up and you know I can't say no to her," Archie whispers, his face a strange mix of apologetic and scared. Jughead wasn't sure who he was more afraid of telling—Archie or Veronica—but now he knows it was ridiculous to even consider Archie.

"It's cool. We kinda figured that out," Jughead says with a chuckle. He expected nothing less from Veronica. She's a master at scheming and there was no doubt she'd rope Archie into this one. "And I'm sorry to break it to you, but if this is your idea of flirting, you should be really grateful those abs are doing all the work for you."

"What do you…" Archie looks at him with confusion for a second before punching him in the arm with slightly too much strength for it to just be friendly. "That's not how I usually flirt! I'm suave. Right, Ronnie?" he calls to his girlfriend who gives him a vague wave of her hand that he takes as yes.

"I know. I'm kidding," Jughead says, rubbing his arm. "Just don't do anything like that again. It made everyone uncomfortable. Especially Betty."

"Aww, you're looking out for her." Archie grins and Jughead mumbles a quiet "Shut up" as he pulls his beanie over his burning ears. "So which one of you should I give the 'don't break my best friend's heart or I'll kick your butt' speech to first?"

"Well, given that I'm never planning on doing that and I'm pretty sure Betty could kick my ass better than you, give it to her."

"You know I can hear you Jug, right?" Betty gives him a playful scowl from across the room.

"Oh my god, you sound like an old married couple already." Veronica beams.

"Relax, V. It's been barely three months." Betty chuckles, half-heartedly trying to temper her friend's excitement. She can't help but smile, though. She feels too giddy herself. While it was initially her idea to keep her budding relationship with Jughead a secret from her best friend, she's now ecstatic to be able to share it with her.

"I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out!" Veronica exclaims, sounding frustrated with herself. Betty has just finished recounting a slightly more detailed version of the story of her and Jughead's relationship, making Veronica realize what has been under her nose this whole time without her ever realizing it. "Oh no, I must be losing my sixth sense."

"To be fair, we did try quite hard to not let it slip," Betty says in an attempt to comfort her.

"But you're both such bad liars." Betty can't even pretend to be offended by that because she knows Veronica's right. She expected the lie to be revealed the moment her friend walked inside their apartment for the first time in three months.

"Why did you keep this from me anyway? We tell each other everything." She doesn't sound accusatory or hurt, but Betty still feels a pang of guilt at Veronica's words.

"I just…" Despite all the different scenarios she's built in her head about how they'd break the truth of their relationships to their best friends, this is not something Betty prepared an answer for. As if hoping that would make Veronica not ask the difficult question.

"It was my idea," Jughead interrupts, sliding an arm around her shoulders before she even has a chance to notice that he and Archie joined them again. "I wanted to keep Betty to myself for a bit longer before you two inevitably came butting in." It's not a lie per se, Betty assumes. In fact, it's a very diplomatic way of saying they wanted some more time before their very intense friend got involved. By Jughead's standards at least.

"That makes sense." Veronica nods, surprisingly unbothered. "Betty is the best company anyone could hope for and I wouldn't want to share her either. And I'm ready to fight you if you ever as much as make her frown."

"I promise to try my hardest." Jughead smiles and extends his hand to her, a sign he really means it.

"I know people who can make you disappear, Jones. So keep that in mind," Veronica whispers, punctuating her threat with a hand squeeze so tight it makes Jughead's fingers tingle.

"I'd expect nothing less from you," he says, and Veronica finally lets go of his hand with a satisfied smile.

"Well now that that's settled," Veronica makes a dramatic pause, waiting until all six eyes are on her before she clasps her hands excitedly. "We're going to go on so many double dates."


End file.
